Psalm 139

In light of yesterday's discovery of Charlotte's positioning and all of your supportive comments I thought that today I'd post this.  I saw Stephanie do this with Psalm 139 when she was waiting for Ava to make her appearance and it really touched me.

Psalm 139:13-16

"For you created her inmost being; 

You knit Charlotte together in my womb.

We praise you because she is fearfully and wonderfully made; 

Your works are wonderful, 

We know that full well.

Charlotte's frame was not hidden from you

When she was made in the secret place.

When she was woven together in the depths of the earth, 

Your eyes saw her unformed body.

All the days ordained for Charlotte

were written in your book

before one of them came to be."

A Change in Plans

Irony.  Usually I appreciate it.  Today, not so much.  

This morning we had our 36 week appointment.  I went in to the office with a copy of my typed up birth plan specifically detailing all of my ideas for what I wanted Charlotte's labor and delivery to look like.  I knew that it was a wish list but it made me feel better to put it together.  Epidural, check (top of the list).  Natural birth other than epidural, check.  Jason with me the whole time, check.  Skin to skin contact as soon as Charlotte's delivered, check.  Nurse as soon as possible after delivery, check.  Have our immediate families brought in to L&D so that we can introduce them to Charlotte once everything is over, check.  And I was planning to give that to my doctor at my appointment today.  Very, very ironic.

Because this morning, all of those plans changed.  :)

If you'll remember Charlotte was breech at our 20 week ultrasound.  She was straight up and down facing my backbone.  And then we went in at 28 weeks for our 4D ultrasound and Charlotte was transverse (totally sideways).  We thought that was good, she was moving in the right direction!  A few appointments later our doctor felt her in my stomach while she was measuring me and said that she felt like she had moved head down.  We were excited.  But when my progression was checked this morning our doctor said that she felt like Charlotte was still breech and she sent us in for another ultrasound.

The good news was that we got to see our little girl again.  The not so great news, she is breech.  But even though she is breech in the same position (face towards my back) that she was at 20 weeks, her heart was beating strong and she was taking her practice breaths.  So it was fun to get to see her little body again and know that everything is still looking good even if she doesn't want to spend all of her time doing head stands.  I mean, really, who can blame her?!?

Because she's breech and our doctor says that the chances of effectively manually turning a baby in a first time mom is slim to none we scheduled a C-section for May 22nd.  So now we have a birthday for Charlotte which is exciting!  I'm a little more frantic than I already was in thinking that I only have three weeks and two days instead of four weeks and two days, but I'll manage that somehow.  And a C-section delivery is definitely not my ideal delivery.  This means that I won't get to introduce Charlotte to our parents which I really wanted to do.  [Do you think I can ask everyone to stay away until I get out of recovery so that I can still do that??? Yeah, me neither.  :)]  The way our hospital does it you also have to stay in recovery by yourself which also stinks because, really, who wants to be by themselves when their baby is getting cuddled by her  Daddy?  But, the goal has always been to deliver a healthy baby no matter the method, so this will make the process a little more structured and a little more predictable.  

So, irony played a big part in today.  At least for me.  I find it very ironic that I took in my birth plan to give to my doctor only to leave my appointment with a scheduled c-section.  I also find it ironic that due to my doctor's vacation plans the week of my delivery Charlotte will be born at 39 weeks when I was born around 44 weeks.  I also think is ironic that due to the many many surgeries that I had as a teenager on my arms due to a car accident that the fact of having major surgery doesn't scare me at all -- I'm thinking the worst part is going to be being in recovery by myself!

If you have any positive c-sections stories I'd love to hear them.  If you have negative ones...please keep them to yourself!  :)  

Recipe Wednesday - Creamy Shrimp with Corn and Bacon

This recipe is in the April 2009 issue of Real Simple magazine -- which is one of my favorite magazine's!  I made this on Sunday night and Jason and I both really loved it.  It was very easy and didn't take long at all.  It also made a lot of shrimp mixture and I didn't even use as much shrimp as they said to.  I would recommend making more rice though.  1 cup of uncooked rice is typically two servings of rice and this recipe is supposed to serve four, so I would make enough rice for four based on what the box of rice says is a serving for four.  Also, I used Minute Brown Rice instead of Long Grain White like the recipe in the magazine says and it was just as good.  Enjoy!

Creamy Shrimp with Corn and Bacon

Serves 4

1 c Rice

4 slices Bacon

1 T Olive Oil

1 Onion, chopped

1/2 c Dry White Wine

3/4 c Heavy Cream

1 1/4 lbs Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 10 oz package Frozen Corn

1/4 teaspoon each Kosher Salt and Black Pepper

1. Cook rice according to directions
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet over M/H heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes.  Transfer to a paper towel, let cool, then break into pieces.  Wipe out the skillet.  (Ok, confession, I also used the boxed bacon and cooked it in the microwave.  Probably not as good as skillet fried bacon but MUCH easier and still tasty!)
3. Heat the oil over M/H heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes.  Add the wine and cook until reduced by half, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add the cream and bring to a boil.  Stir in the shrimp, corn, and salt and pepper. Simmer until cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes.  Stir in the bacon and serve over rice.

As we started last week, if you are posting a recipe this Wednesday link your post with Mr. Linky below!

Weekend Update

First things first, I keep missing my milestone posts! This is my 202nd post! I can't believe that I've said so much in the past 11 months! I guess it has been a pretty exciting year but still. Anyway, thank you for reading my blog! I hope that you're enjoying it and that you'll keep reading long after Charlotte arrives.

And now on to our weekend....

As I'm sure you remember we went to dinner with our good friends Kelly and Tripp and Jenni and Travis on Friday. We had a lot of fun! It was a little difficult to choose the kinds of cheese and sauce and chocolate that we wanted but the girls managed. The guys gracefully backed down and let the ladies make the selections which was greatly appreciated! :) Our favorite course was, of course, the chocolate but it was a really fun dinner. We were glad that we got to spend it with such good friends!

Kelly and Tripp

Kelly and Jenni

On Saturday, Jason and I apparently forgot that I was 35 weeks pregnant and worked really hard and for a really long time in the garage. Ok, ok, Jason worked really hard and I was outside supervising. But, I tell you, just sitting outside in the heat is a lot of work when you're this pregnant! Anyway, cleaning out the garage had been on the to do list approximately two years since we moved in to our house. Charlotte finally became the catalyst for us to get it done. I so wish that we had taken before pictures so that you could see the transformation but you'll just have to take my word for it. We spent two hours at Lowe's getting a metal shelf system and pegboard. Everything was taken out and the whole place was swept. Now we have so much room in the garage! It's fantastic!

But, by Saturday night, we were exhausted. It was still taking it's toll on me today and I had to crash and take a nap this afternoon. But Jason got right back out there and mowed the back yard. And planted this beautiful Lollipop Gerber Daisy plant in the planter in the back. They are these huge daisies that I just love! I hope that it blooms all summer!

I went to the grocery store this afternoon and am about to try my hand at Creamy Shrimp with Corn and Bacon. If it's good it will be Recipe Wednesday this week. Let's keep our fingers crossed because Charlotte is hungry! :)

We're looking forward to our appointment on Wednesday to see if I've started progressing at all. If so I guess we need to get our car seat installed and start packing our bags. It's crazy how time has flown to get us to this point! Have a great week!

Compassion Trip to India

Check out the image on my sidebar about the Compassion Bloggers trip to India.   You can click on the image to go to their blog page where you can follow them on their trip.

Also, if you Twitter you can search for "compassionIndia" to get all tweets that people are writing about the trip.  If you want to join in just put #compassionIndia in your tweet and it will go into this grouping.  Some of the amazing people that you can follow all the time (or just while they're in India) are @angiec519 (Angie Smith - Bring the Rain), @pwilson (Pete Wilson - Without Wax), @theshaungroves (Shaun Groves), @spencesmith, @keelymarie, and @flowerdust.

Keep praying for them as they start their journey today!

Recipe Wednesday - Empanada Grande

This recipe is from an old friend from high school.  Brittanie Temple sent this yummy recipe to me and I just had to share it!  It looks so good!

Empanada Grande (Mexican Pizza)

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated pie crust (the ones in a can...should have 2 in one can)

1 lb ground beef

1/3 cup of chopped onion

3 tblsp snipped cilantro

1 cup of shredded Mexican cheese (I used a little more...you can never have too much cheese!)

1 packet of Taco seasoning

1 tblsp minced garlic

1/3 cup chunky salsa

1 egg, lightly beaten

Steps:

1. Brown meat and in a large bowl combine meat, onions, cilantro, cheese, taco seasoning, garlic, and salsa.

2. Layout one pie crust out on cooking sheet (cookie sheet). Brush the crust with some of the egg.

3. lay the mixture out on the pie crust, leaving about 1 inch around the edge.

4. Lay the other pie crust on top of the mixture and press edges together to seal with a fork. Brush more egg on top of pie crust.

5. Cut 4 slits in the top.

6. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes until crust is golden.

7. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

My friend Jenni has posted some recipes on Wednesday's on her blog recently.  So I thought some others might like to get in on the Recipe Wednesday fun also, or you might like to be able to check out other people who are participating.  So I'm adding a Mr. Linky to this post (and hopefully every Recipe Wednesday) so that you can link your Recipe Wednesday post to this one so that we can all check all of them out!  Just make sure you put the link to the actual post and not just to your general blog in your Mr. Linky.  If you want to include the recipe name that would also be great!  This is my first try with Mr. Linky so hopefully it will work, but if not, I'll keep trying!

Also, if you want to "guest-blog" when I go on Recipe Wednesday maternity leave :) let me know! I'll need at least a few guest bloggers since I'm not thinking I'll be cooking for a while after Charlotte arrives!

Just call me the producer!

So I had read about Animoto in one of my parenting magazines that I've been religiously reading. You can make a 30 second music video out of your favorite 12-15 photos for free. But then OHMommy did a review of the site and is offering her readers a one week FREE TRIAL of the extended version so that you can make full length music videos out of as many pictures as you want! She's also giving away three year long subscriptions!

So I started playing with Animoto and I have to tell you...it's the coolest! I've made movies for my parents and for some of their friends and I, honestly, usually spent anywhere from 5-10 hours on each video. With Animoto the really advanced effects like setting a picture to show up at a certain line of a song or splicing multiple songs together aren't possible, but the basic putting photos to music with cool effects is all done for you with Animoto. Here are some of the video's that I've put together already just to get a taste of what it can do.

Just as a note about Animoto. They don't have a huge selection of music and there are only so many songs on our computer that weren't downloaded from iTunes that you can use in outside productions so both of these have the same song. You can find more music I was just not wanting to fool with it. Also, sometimes if you have a lot of pictures, it will cut the last off of the video. So I think Animoto is going to be best for something where you have between 50-70 pictures. Since you can't splice two songs together you're limited with how many pictures you can fit into one song. But overall, you get a great looking product for very little effort!

Leigh and Justin's Wedding

Jason and Jenn

Charlotte's Baby Shower

So, I'm still playing with Animoto but these are my first tries. I'm rather impressed with the quality and "artsiness" of the videos. And again, they were so easy!

If you want to play with Animoto you have until April 24th to try it out through OHMommy's site. You can always make short music videos (12-15 pictures) for free but you have to have a subscription to make the longer videos. Happy mixing!

Please pray for Stellan

Please pray for Stellan and MckMama as Stellan is about to undergo an ablation of his heart either tonight or first thing in the morning.  You can read MckMama's post here describing exactly what they will be doing.  It is extremely dangerous and Stellan needs all the prayers that he can get.  Thanks for keeping their family in your prayers!

Red Ruby Rose Giveaway Winner!

I'm a little late selecting the winner due to a rainstorm and a desperate need to go to the grocery store but, without further ado, here we go!

Drumroll please.......

And the winner is....

Commenter #11, Donya!

Donya, you don't have an email on your Blogger account so I can't email you. Please send me an email so that I can get you in touch with Rowena from Red Ruby Rose!

Thanks for everyone for entering the contest! It looks like Lindsey and friends are having all of the luck in my giveaways!

A tour of Charlotte's room

Now that Charlotte's room is completed in most of the "big things" I thought I'd give you a little tour!  So sit back and enjoy as I take you through her room and show you some of the special things that she has waiting for her!

This is the door to Charlotte's room.  It has this super cute, one of a kind, hand painted bib on the door that my Mom got one of her friends to make for Charlotte.  I was so excited when I opened the bib yesterday at the shower!  I had asked for some type of painting with Charlotte's monogram so that we could hang it on our hospital door but this turned out so much cuter than anything I could have imagined!  Thanks Mom and Lee!

Here's what you see when you walk into Charlotte's room.  The chest on the left is something that my grandparents got for me when I was little.  They put doors on the front of it because I said that I wanted something that my little brother couldn't get in to!  I thought that it would be special to use that in Charlotte's room.  I love our glider/rocker/recliner (and, obviously, so does Luca).  It is so comfy! I am looking forward to many special times spent feeding Charlotte in that chair.  

You'll notice that there is a quilt on the back of the chair.  This quilt was made by Jason's great-aunt Ruby.  She has breast cancer and made the quilt for Charlotte in her free time.  Please be praying for her.  What a special gift for Charlotte!

After hearing from friends and family I decided to stick with just one curtain panel for the time being in Charlotte's room.  It stretches all the way across the window and blocks out so much light that I think another panel would just be too bulky on that small window.  Also, I'm having too much fun with my monogram machine to go back to sewing plain curtains! :)

If you've read my blog for very long chances are that you've heard me talk about how much I love Kim Wheeler's work at Small Words.  I loved getting her "Fa La La" Christmas set for Christmas and it is so cute!  In this post I talk about the "Baby Mo" painting that you can see in Charlotte's room that my aunt got me for Christmas.  So my Mom's sisters got together and got Charlotte  her name painting for her room from Kim.  I was so excited when I opened it yesterday at the shower!  It is beautiful and matches perfectly! I love how the polka dots complement the fabric and don't over-do any one fabric that's already in the room.  Thanks Kim! The painting looks great!

And now we move on to the far wall.  Jason and I were talking this afternoon about how glad we are that we redid the closets in this room.  I don't know how frustrated I would be with the disorganization that the closets would be if we hadn't installed the  closet systems.  For someone as OCD as me they were worth every penny!  In the middle between the two closets is the aforementioned "Baby Mo" painting.  It will always be a reminder of how much we loved Charlotte even when we didn't know that she was a she and we called her "Mo".  Underneath the painting are beautiful pearl letters with her monogram that match the "C" that Kelly put on top of the diaper cake!

Her book shelves are still a work in progress but they have a lot more on them now.  The bear up top is now decked out in a tutu and we're slowly but surely adding to Charlotte's reading collection.  There are some "vintage" items on the bookshelves like the painting that Mom and Dad brought me back from California when I was in elementary school and the frog painting that I got when I was in high school and loved frogs.  I can't wait to add to the book shelves over the years and see what is important enough to Charlotte for her to place in them!

The wall opposite the crib is now really special.  We got the chest at the beach when we went in October.  We hadn't announced our pregnancy yet but were able to talk about it freely at the beach since we didn't know anyone there!  The cross above the light switch is something that Charlotte got at my office shower.  April gave Charlotte that cross with her initials on it and so it is so special.  

The neatest thing about this wall now though are the shadow boxes.  My Mom made some shadow boxes for my aunt Carrie when she was pregnant but I hadn't thought about them at all.  However, when Mom told me that she and Kay had put together a gift and Mom wanted Abby to help me open one of the packages so that we could see them both at the same time, I have to admit that I secretly hoped that she had put together shadow boxes for us.  And she and Kay did!

These shadow boxes are so special and are such a neat addition to the nursery.  Jason's has a Feltman Brothers outfit that he wore when he was little, some of his little shoes, his birth announcement, a lock of his hair from his first haircut, and a picture of him when he was little.  So cute!  My shadow box has a Feltman Brothers dress, a stuffed bear that my great grandmother (Granny) made for me, a receiving blanket that Mom's mom (Gramme) embroidered for me, hair from my first hair cut, my birth announcement, a bracelet, a ring with a "J" on it that used to be Granny's (her last name was Jackson) that she passed on to me, a ring with my birthstone in it, and a picture from me when I was little.  I can't tell you how much these two shadow boxes mean to us.  They are so special and something that we will treasure always!  To think of all of the love and time that went in to making them is just so special!  Thanks Mom and Kay!

In addition to Charlotte's room I wanted to share some other special items in her room.  

Something else that we got at the shower yesterday is this beautiful dress that Kay made for Charlotte.  With two boys she never really got the opportunity to make dresses and bonnets and I think she's enjoying her chance now!  She made this beautiful dress for Charlotte with a sweet slip and bonnet to match.  She also hand embroidered it with Charlotte's monogram!  It is beautiful and so sweet!  I can't wait to see Charlotte in it.  She also crocheted a blanket and sweater for Charlotte.  They are beautiful!

As you can probably tell, I love monograms and Charlotte's is already all over her room.  In her crib she has the beautiful monogrammed white pillow that the hostesses gave her yesterday.  Her bumper also has her monogram on it.  And then she also had the pillow that matches her bedding with her monogram on it!  In her crib she also has her first baby doll which Jason and I got for her.  We got it from Baby Be Blessed and got to "create" her ourselves.  We picked out all of the different fabrics and hair color and clothes.  The doll also has a name on her tummy that has Charlotte's name and a Bible verse.  The doll is so soft! We hope that she loves her and always remembers that her Mommy and Daddy got her her first doll.

So that's Charlotte's room as it looks right now!  I really love going and spending time in her room.  I can't wait to bring her home to it in a few short weeks!!

Charlotte's Shower!

Yesterday my good friends Kelly, Jenni, and Leigh threw Charlotte the sweetest baby shower.  Kelly hosted my family and friends and her lovely home and we had such a good time.  They though of everything from burp cloths rolled up in rattles to be used as napkins, to handmade chocolate covered Oreo pops with mints on them as favors, to a beautiful (and useful!) diaper cake, and so much more!  I know that they must have worked so hard on everything and all that I can say is, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends who are so excited for Charlotte's arrival.  Y'all are the best!  Thanks!

Since I have so many pictures from yesterday I thought I'd put together a few collages on Picnik so that I don't use all of my blogger memory on this one post.  I figure I'll need more room for pictures of our actual child when she's born! :)  If you want to see any of the pictures bigger you should just be able to click on them and they'll pull up larger versions of the collages.

Here are pictures of all the beautiful decorations.  Yes, the cake tasted as good as it looked.  The tutu and diaper cake were hand made as were the Oreo mint pops.  Isn't everything gorgeous!

Here are pictures of guests from the shower as well as pictures of me with the hostesses, me and Mom, me and Kay (Jason's mom), an "aunt' picture, and a "cousin" picture.

Here are mostly candid's of me opening gifts.  I'm not a  huge fan of action shots but this way you can see some of the beautiful gifts that I got!  The picture in the bottom right is with my youngest cousin Abby.  She wanted to get Charlotte a present with her own money and she picked out a super cute butterfly mobile to clip on to the stroller.  Isn't she sweet?!?

We were so blessed to receive so many beautiful gifts yesterday!  Everyone was so generous and Charlotte got so many lovely things. I know that she'll love every single thing that was chosen with love for her.  I wasn't able to post pictures of every gift, but please know that everything is so greatly appreciated.  I love everything that Charlotte was given yesterday and appreciate the generosity so much!  All I know, this little girl is going to be stylin'!  :)  She'll probably have to put on a fashion show every day so that we can make sure and get pictures of her in all of these precious outfits. Thank you Kelly, Jenni, and Leigh for throwing such a wonderful shower! And thank you to everyone who came, it meant so much to me to have you there to help celebrate Charlotte's coming arrival!

Red Ruby Rose Giveaway

Don't forget! The Red Ruby Rose clutch giveaway ends at 5 pm CST! That's a little less than 1 hour and 45 minutes from now! Make sure you go and enter!!

Super Saturday!

What a fun Saturday! I've been waiting for today for a long time because it's the day that my friends Kelly, Jenni, and Leigh are throwing Charlotte her baby shower for our family and friends! I know that they have been working really hard to get everything ready and I sooooo appreciate all of their hard work.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  I'll post pictures once I get a chance to upload them...probably tomorrow.

Today is also our A-Day game.  The first game (sort of) of the 2009 season.  Ok, so yes, we're playing ourselves and so we can't lose but that's what makes it so much fun!  We're guaranteed a win!  Jason and I were talking last night about how most people don't "get" why A-Day is so much fun.  I admit, I didn't really get it either, especially when we were in our down years.  But now that I'm older and able to get in to strategy and coaching and now that we're all really excited about Alabama football again I understand why the game is such a big deal.  This year we are trying to determine who our new quarterback will be also (even though Greg's play during practice has pretty much sealed up the job for him) which makes it fun.  Jason put up our "game day" flag (the home flag, not the away flag -- he's cheering for the A team) and is ready to watch the game on ESPN with Tripp and Caroline while I enjoy a very nice baby shower. :)

And then tonight we have another party in my hometown for a couple that's getting married.  I'm hoping that I have enough energy to go and have fun at the party after all of the excitement earlier in the day.  The party is at a location on the river so it looks like it's going to be a perfect day for that kind of party.

I hope your Saturday is as much fun as it looks like ours is going to be!  Also, Stephanie and Travis had their little girl yesterday and she is just precious.  Go over and congratulate them on Ava Page's arrival! I know that she'd appreciate it.  I can't believe that Ava is here because all through our pregnancy it's seemed like they were due just a few short weeks before us.  It seems like the days and weeks leading up to Charlotte's arrival are passing by much quicker now!!

Baby Pool

For those who started reading my blog after the beginning of January, we set up a baby pool to let people enter their guesses for Charlotte.  We closed the pool right before we had our ultrasound to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.  You can check out all of the guesses by going to the "ExpectNet" button on the sidebar.  

So I promised prizes for the winners and earlier this week Dad asked me if I had determined what the winners would receive.  It's been kind of hard coming up with prizes because the entrants range from my 8 year old cousin to my older than 8 years old grandparents! :)  So what I've done is come up with three prizes that the winner will hopefully like.  The winner can choose one of the three options.  

Option 1: Gift certificate to the Carrabba's/Bonefish chain

Option 2: Box of ProV1 golf balls

Option 3: This medium clutch from Red Ruby Rose

Obviously we won't have a winner until Charlotte is born and just because you missed the gender doesn't mean that you're out of the contest!  Here is the point breakdown in case you haven't seen it:

Incorrect gender: 400 points

Incorrect date and time: 5 points per hour

Incorrect weight: 5 points per ounce

Incorrect length: 10 points per inch

These are the standard point values that they assign when you set up the game.  The goal is to have the least number of points.  So even if you got the gender wrong but you're right on the money for everything else you still have a shot!  :)  Thanks for those of you that played! I can't believe that we should know the answer to all of those questions in six short weeks!!

Also, if you like the clutch that we're giving as a prize don't forget to enter to win the Red Ruby Rose clutch that we're giving away right now!  Go and check out the post and follow the instructions to leave a comment to enter.  The giveaway ends Sunday night so don't forget!  For all of you who are reading the blog but not commenting here's your chance to get in on the action! :)

Stellan Update

Just to give those of you not checking up on Stellan an update he is being flown to Boston today to have his care overtaken by a specialist there with the very real possibility of having an ablation performed on his heart next Tuesday.  This is a drastic change because the doctor's were talking as late as yesterday about sending Stellan home on a heart monitor with oral drugs to regulate his SVT for at least another four weeks to give his heart time to grow.  Apparently, an ablation is an extremely dangerous procedure on one so tiny (he's only five months old) and they were hoping to give his body time to grow before having to perform the surgery.  There's still a chance that the surgery will be postponed but regardless Stellan and MckMama are going to Boston for more specialized care.

Please be in prayer for this family.  Stellan has been in the hospital for weeks now and so for weeks his body has been going through the trauma of SVT of his heart (very high heart rate) off on and on.  I'm sure that he is exhausted and his body is tired of trying to keep up with the frenzied activity.  For weeks now MckMama has been staying with Stellan either at the hospital or at a nearby hotel, only getting to see her husband and other three children sporadically.  I'm sure that she is exhausted and tired of being away from her family.

Please pray for the whole family's spirits.  That they will continue to trust God through this trial.  That the other children will be able to understand on some level what is going on and why their Mom is gone so much.  Please pray for their marriage as the stress and distance accumulate.  Please pray for Stellan and MckMama's travel in the hospital flight from Minnesota to Boston.  Please pray for Stellan's body to keep fighting.  Please pray for the doctor's wisdom and guidance.  Please pray for the surgery if they have one.  And mostly, as I know MckMama would ask you, please pray for healing.  Whether healing means healing on this Earth or not, they are trusting God to heal Stellan.

I know that any comments that you would leave MckMama would be greatly appreciated.  MckMama and her friends have continued to update Stellan's name gallery which has so many awesome pictures of Stellan's name all over the world.  If you've never checked it out please go and look at it.  The name gallery started when MckMama was still pregnant with Stellan and was told that he would die almost immediately.  And now his name has been sent in in front of president's, all over the world, and even in front of The University of Alabama sign.  :)  If you feel led to send in a picture, I know that MckMama appreciates all of the visible reminders of people praying for their family.

Remember, there is power in prayer!  And this family needs all the prayers that can be said for them.

Recipe Wednesday - Asian Lettuce Wraps

If you're anything like me you love PF Chang's.  One of my favorite parts of eating at PF Chang's are the lettuce wraps before the meal.  I found a recipe on AllRecipes that makes great lettuce wraps.  The recipe calls for making it with beef, which I did.  They were great with beef but next time I'll try making it with chicken; I bet that they'll be just as good and taste almost exactly like the lettuce wraps at PF Chang's!

Asian Lettuce Wraps

16 Boston Bibb or Butter Lettuce leaves

1 lb Lean Ground Beef

1 T Cooking Oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 T Soy sauce

1/4 c Hoisin sauce

2 t Minced Pickled Ginger (I couldn't find this so I left it out -- they were still great!)

1 T Red Wine Vinegar

Asian Chile Pepper Sauce (optional -- I used maybe a teaspoon of this)

1 8 oz can Water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 t Asian (dark) Sesame Oil

1. Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not to tear them.  Set aside.

2. In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground been in 1 T of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary.  Drain, and set aside to cool.

3. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently.  Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions and stir.  Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil, and continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about two minutes.

4. Combine the beef with the onion mixture.  Spoon onto individual lettuce leaves and roll like a burrito to eat.

Jason and I created our own PF Chang's sauce to go with the lettuce wraps.  We each created our own but started with a base of soy sauce and then added chile pepper sauce.  We then added white vinegar to cut the spice and get the sauce to the right temperature.  It was a delicious meal!

Red Ruby Rose Giveaway!!

Earlier today I contacted Red Ruby Rose to purchase a small clutch as a prize option for the Baby Pool winner.  She graciously offered to donate a clutch as a blog giveaway.  Can I tell you how excited I am about this?!?!  Mom and Dad got me a Red Ruby Rose clutch for Christmas and I love it!  It is the perfect size to take to cocktail parties or to church when you don't want to carry your whole bag.  It is beautiful and is so classy!  The outside fabric is gorgeous and the inside fabric is just as beautiful!

The picture of the clutch that Rowena at Red Ruby Rose is giving away is above.  The fabric is something that Rowena created herself and got printed!  This is truly a beautiful and original clutch that could be yours!  You can see more details by viewing the clutch here.  

To enter this giveaway go and check out Red Ruby Rose's Etsy site and come back and leave me a comment telling me which clutch and pattern you would choose if you had unlimited resources and could choose any clutch!  To be entered a second time, become a follower of my blog and leave me a second comment telling me that you became a follower.  If you're already a follower, leave a second comment telling me that you already follow me.  Because this is such a great giveaway from a dealer that I have personally dealt with and love and I want as many people as possible to know about her and her site, I'll also let you enter a THIRD time by blogging about the giveaway on your blog.  Just post another comment on this post with the link to your post about the giveaway.

The giveaway will end Sunday, April 19th at 5 pm CST.  The winner will be chosen using random.org's random number generator.  Good luck!  I wish I could enter!! :)

A quarter century

Yesterday I turned 25.  While nothing much fun happens at your 25th birthday (no license, alcohol, etc) it still seems like a big deal.  I'm a quarter of a century old!  Yikes! :)  But at least I can always rest secure in the knowledge that my sweet husband has always been and will always be older than me.  I'll take some comfort in that! 

You know as you get older sometimes birthday's are anti-climatic.  When I was growing up birthday's were always well celebrated in our house.  Mom would wake me up to the Walt Disney version of Happy Birthday.

Happy, Happy Birthday to You - Walt Disney

To this day that song can bring a smile to my face no matter what's going on!  We always were treated to dinner out either with dessert out or with a cake and lots of presents!  Birthday's were a HUGE deal and so they were always so important to me.  I'm not sure that I'll ever outgrow my penchant for birthdays (as shown by the fact that on the 13th of every month I tell Jason how many month's there are until my birthday!).  But sometimes life gets busy and you don't get to celebrate quite the way you did growing up.  Which is fine, but sometimes it's nice to get to feel like a princess for a day again.

That's exactly what yesterday was like for me!  My company gives all employee's a Birthday Holiday to use within 5 days of their birthday and I took mine yesterday.  That made my weekend a 3 1/2 day weekend which was awesome!  I got to sleep late which was super nice and, these days, few and far between.  Then I met up with Kelly and Caroline to go and get my "traditional" birthday lunch in my hometown.  We also did some shopping and just got to spend some fun girl time together.  Last night, Jason and I went out to eat with Mom and Dad and enjoyed great food and fun conversation.  

I'm so loving my embroidery machine that my parents gave me for my birthday and they also got me some cute pj's for my post-Charlotte experience when I'm hanging out in pj's most days.  Mom also found this cute Amy Butler book that has all of these different patterns of things to make for Charlotte so that's super exciting!  Overall, the day was so much fun.  So relaxing.  Such a great way to spend my last pre-baby birthday.  Thank you everyone for making my day so special!

Jason and I at dinner

Mom and I at dinner.  Thanks Mom for carrying me for 44 weeks and then going through days of labor! I am especially thankful for that this year! :)

Easter Sunday

Anna, Mary, me, and Lauren

The oldest girl cousins with Gramme

On Sunday after church we went to my aunt's house for a great lunch and some family fellowship.  I wanted to share a few pictures from the afternoon because we haven't had any "cousin" pictures in a while.  We were missing some cousins, but this is a start! :)

Easter Gems

In case you have some time and want to read some awesome blog posts about Easter that were in my reader today here are some of my favorites:

- MckMama's Truth About Easter

- Stephanie's Hope That Springs Eternal

- Pastor Steve's Easter Week - He is Risen!

Easter

This morning's service was powerful.  Our church is presenting an Easter play and they did a presentation from the play of when Jesus rose and came to visit the disciples.  Sitting there I couldn't help but thinking about what the disciples must have been thinking.  Jesus had tried to prepare them.  He told them over and over again that the Son of Man was going to be given over to the government and would be tortured and killed.  But he also kept telling them that on the third day the Son of Man would again rise.  Hearing those words I can only imagine the doubt that filled them.  Why would their Lord say that he was going to die?  How would he live again?  What did it mean for them?  

And on that Sunday morning so many year's ago the disciples still didn't understand what Jesus had told them.  They still missed the big picture.  They were focused on Friday afternoon.  On the death.  The beating.  The betrayal.  The hurt.  The agony.  When they should have been focused on the whole story that Jesus told them.  Yes, he would be beaten and killed.  But he would rise again.  And since they had forgotten that part of the story they were shocked when Jesus appeared amidst them.  They worried that the government had stolen his body.  Yes, they eventually believed and worshiped their risen Lord, but they lost some time celebrating Jesus' Resurrection because they couldn't stop focusing on the beginning of the story.

I thought about how often I get like that in my life.  I'm so focused on the hurt.  The betrayal.  The sadness.  That I forget to look to the end of the story.  I forget that Jesus has saved me and all that he has promised me.  So, this morning I was reminded to remember the end of the story.  The part where Jesus says that he will never leave or forsake me.  The part where he conquered death so that I may live.  The part where he comes back to make everything new again.  The part where he keeps his promise.  Because, even if I don't really believe what I'm hearing.  Even if I don't want to accept the fact that he's telling me that something good will happen after the trial.  Even when I'm focused on what has just happened.  Jesus still shows up just like he promised.  

This video was used at the beginning of the service and I thought it was powerful.  I liked how clearly it presents the gospel story.  This is what we believe.  This is what Easter is all about.

I hope you and your family had/are having a great day of fun and fellowship.  I know that I am enjoying the joy and excitement that comes with Easter Sunday.  Because today is all about the resurrection and the overcoming of fear and doubt and death.  Happy Easter! 

Super Saturday

Whew! It feels good to sit down!  Today I took advantage of Jason being home all day and we got to work.  Our room has now been cleaned from top to bottom in advance of #1 - taking out the old run and putting in the new one and #2 - bringing Charlotte home.  I set up a little corner for Charlotte and I in our room with a rocker that, I've heard, was originally my great-grandmother's.  I've just got to make a tablecloth for this cabinet that I'm going to use as a side table and then I'll post a picture!

I also worked in Charlotte's room today.  I set up a drawer full of sleepers, a drawer full of 0-3 month clothes, and a drawer full of 3-6 month clothes.  That way I'll be able to take a better stock of what we still need to get after our sohwer's.  I also separated out the different sizes of diapers that we have.  Does anyone want to tell me how many diapers in each size we should buy to start with?  We've been trying to buy in advance so that the cost will be spread out longer but I'm not sure how many of the smaller sizes (like newborn) I need.  

I'm about to go and get ready for a party for one of Jason's friends that we have tonight.  I'm excited because yesterday I found two new dresses that I really like!  So now I have a new dress for my shower next weekend and an Easter dress too!  Have a good night!

Redesign

So last night while Jason enjoyed the Masters I worked on a blog redesign.  If you've looked at my blog in the past 12 hours you know that it hasn't gone well.  I created this super cute background but I can't get it to load and display correctly.  VERY frustrating!  So I'm going to work on it some more this weekend, in the meantime, I just put a plain page as the background.  

So, if anyone knows more than me (which isn't very much) about creating your own background or knows of someone who could debug my problem with me please let me know! :) 

Happy Friday!

Ready for the weekend

I'm procrastinating for just a few minutes trying to put off the things around the house I need to do.  Make dinner.  Do laundry.  Vacuum.  All the really fun stuff that comes with being a grown up.  So, I thought I'd blog.  Sounds like the best solution to me!

I was expecting April to be a lot slower than it has been so far.  Our month of March was jam packed with something almost every night.  We didn't have tons scheduled for April so I was expecting to feel loads of pressure lifted and to feel like I had tons of free time.  I was wrong.  I think it was the trip to Tuscaloosa on Sunday that threw me.  I had been planning it for a while but I guess I didn't think about the packing and unpacking and driving that goes into making a trip like that.  I also don't think I figured on how uncomfortable it would get to sleep!

If you ask anyone who has ever lived with me they'll tell you I love my sleep.  (I'm sure Kelly's laughing at me right now as she reads this!)  I have always slept late, late, late any chance I could get.  In college, if I had an early class (and sometimes if I didn't), I was always the one in bed early so that I could get at least 8 hours of sleep in.  I have known since we first started talking about having kids that my days of nice, long sleep were numbered.  So I've tried to take as much advantage of sleeping late as I could.  The problem is I was expecting to have 50 more days of good sleep!  But Charlotte's decided that she likes tap dancing at night.  And gymnastics.  And Tae Bo.  So, good sleep has been hard to come by in the past week which, along with the travel, really brought me down a few steps.  I took a nap yesterday after I got done working I was so tired!  Thankfully, Charlotte calmed down until about 6 this morning so I got a good night of sleep and I feel like a new person.  And for all of you out there laughing at me, I do know that I'm not going to get much sleep at all, much less good sleep once Charlotte gets here.  And I know that I'll do like all new mom's and deal with it.  I'm more than willing to sacrifice my sleep for this little girl!  :)

On a more fun note, I used my lunch break today to start organizing some of Charlotte's outfits and burp cloths and blankets.  I started putting them in size order so that I could really see what she has and what she needs.  It looks like her closet is so full but then I think, "What if she goes through even two onesies in one day?!?!  What will she wear then?!?!"  It's then that I realize that she probably needs more clothes! :)  I'm more than happy to oblige in that area!  Thankfully, my aunt Carrie is letting us use some of her daughter Abby's clothes so that really helps bulk up Charlotte's wardrobe.  But it was fun today to sort through all of those tiny outfits.  The little socks.  The pretty bows.  I'm getting so anxious for Charlotte to arrive!

I guess I need to go get started with dinner but I'll leave with this.  I'm super excited about this weekend!  My company is so nice that they give us the afternoon of Good Friday off.  I have a whole list of errands to run tomorrow so it is nice that I'll get to do them while most of the world is at work.  Hopefully, the stores will be less crowded!  Then we have a party for some of Jason's friends who are getting married on Saturday night.  It should be fun to see all of his high school friends again.  Of course, Sunday is Easter which will be a special day.  And then I get Monday off too so I get to try sleeping late and, hopefully, enjoying some shopping with Kelly and Caroline!  Sounds like the perfect weekend to me!

Charlotte's First Shower

On Monday I went down to Tuscaloosa and worked in the office for the day.  I went to put in a little face time before my maternity leave and to settle things like my last day with my boss.  But as soon as they heard I was coming all I kept hearing about was how excited everyone was to throw me a shower.  I honestly work with the nicest people!  They went ABOVE AND BEYOND putting together the nicest shower for me and Charlotte.  It was great to see everyone again and so much fun to celebrate Charlotte's impending arrival with all these sweet women.  And, not to discount them, there were lots of men who asked how I was doing and seemed excited about Charlotte's arrival too!

We were so blessed to get so many nice things at the shower that makes me SO MUCH more relaxed as a soon-to-be mom.  Charlotte got some precious clothes and paci's and diapers and a diaper genie and sheets and so much more.  Everyone was so generous that I was blown away by their kindness.  Here are just a few of the pictures that were taken at the shower.  I pretty much dislike all pictures of myself at this point so I'm not posting tons of them but these were some of the best.

Thank you everyone for all of the work that you put in to making the shower so special! Thank you for giving so generously to Charlotte! Thank you for sharing your friendship! I am blessed to get to work with such a great group of people!

Amanda, Lee, and April did so much getting everything ready for the shower.  Thank you!

Charlotte got this cute bib, burp cloth, and blanket set from Ashley and Beth.  I miss BowRegards! :)

Here I am before I started opening gifts

Look at the cake that April made!  It even had Charlotte's monogram on it!  And it was so good! Thank you April for putting so much effort in to it!

Recipe Wednesday - Spicy Chicken Pasta

This recipe from our local hospital foundation's cookbook is great!  My mom used to make it when we were little and I always loved it.  No that I'm older I know that it's pretty easy to make and makes a lot of pasta!  However, it is spicy so if you are looking for something to make for someone who just had a baby or is sick this probably isn't the dish the take.  But, for something like my friend Leigh's shower a few weeks ago, it was the perfect pasta with chicken dish.  Please note that the picture above is from Leigh's shower and this was about 2/3's of the recipe.  I also filled a disposable round cake pan full of pasta and Jason and I ate that for dinner one night.  I'm not kidding when I say that it makes a lot!

Spicy Chicken Pasta

4 to 6 chicken brea sts

12 oz Vermicelli Noodles

1 small Onion, chopped

1/2 c Melted Margarine (you can use about half of this and it still be great)

1 10 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup

2 cans Tomatoes with Green Chilies (aka Rotel)

1 T Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 t Garlic Powder

1 lb Velveeta cheese, cubed

Parmesan Cheese

Rinse chicken.  Boil chicken in water until tender.  Remove skin, if needed, and chop.

Cook noodles using package directions.

Saute onion in margarine in sillet.

Combine soup, tomatoes with chiles, Worcestershire Sauce, Garlic Powder, and Velveeta Cheese in bowl.  Add chicken and onions to soup mixture.  Layer pasta and soup mixture in a 9x12 glass baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.