What's a girl to do??

Pregnancy has been really a great and wonderful thing for me. I wanted to be pregnant for so long that when we finally got pregnant it was such a joy and relief. I was sooo blessed to just have nausea and not actual sickness in the beginning. And Zofran was my friend and even took that away! All in all this pregnancy has been so much fun! I'm to the point now where people aren't afraid to ask when I'm due because I'm definitely pregnant. Thankfully no one has tried rubbing my belly lately so I haven't had to hurt anyone yet but I'm sure that day is coming!

One of the things that I'm getting the biggest kick out of is my ever changing state of emotions. One day I'm hyper and giggling and cracking up over the smallest thing. Like the other night Jason and I spent probably 5 minutes laughing at Luca because he walked around in a circle at least 10 times each way (clockwise and counter clockwise) before he settled down to go to sleep. And then the next day for no reason I'm feeling blah and down and things just feel yucky. But then maybe later in the afternoon I'm feeling great again. It's just so back and forth!

Tonight was the last night of auditions for American Idol. We had never watched the show until last season when Kelly and Tripp talked us in to starting. And then, like all of our other tv shows, we got rather obsessed. But this season I've decided that pregnant (or overly emotional people) probably shouldn't watch the show. I mean, I've been getting upset for these poor people who are HORRIBLE on the show! I'll get all teary because Simon tells this girl that she sounds like a cat! And now I'm laughing just thinking about it, but really, you think about that poor girl and her momma and just feel bad for her!

Such a range of emotions. Kind of like this post...all over the place! I'd love to hear about your pregnancy (or general) melt-downs so that I don't feel so crazy!

And if you ever have a blah kind of day you should read Sophie's (aka Boo Mama) post over at All-Access. It will help you recover from those rainy days!

Eight years is a looooong time!

We are one of those couples that celebrate both anniversaries.  You know, the one where you officially started dating and the one where you got married.  I guess it's just because we dated for so long that we were so used to celebrating on January 28th that it was just a habit by the time that we got married and started celebrating July 29th.  Plus, they are almost exactly six months apart so this leads to a celebration that's perfectly timed!

I find it hard to believe that eight years ago Jason and I started dating.  I wonder if we actually used the term "going steady" or how we actually phrased it??  I was sixteen at that point!  SIXTEEN!  Jason was seventeen!  I remember on my birthday that year that Jason reminded me of Tim McGraw's song Seventeen because it was new.  Do you even remember that song?!? We were just babies! It's amazing to think that we started dating then and are still together.

Here is the very first picture we ever took together.  We weren't even technically dating at this point but were just "talking."  Oh the terminology!  :)  

Ok, I'm pretty embarrassed that I just put that picture on the blog because I pretty much hate that picture.  We were at the bowling alley for goodness sake's as part of the church's Lock-Out, but still.  Please forgive us for being so young!

And now here is the most recent picture we took.  At dinner the night that we found out that we're having a little girl.

Wow, I can really tell I'm pregnant in that picture!  What a difference 8 years makes!

So much has changed in eight years.  We both graduated high school.  We both went to college.  I pledged a sorority.  Jason played college baseball at junior college AND at Alabama.  We both eventually graduated from college.  Got married.  Got jobs.  Got a puppy.  Bought a house.  Made couple friends.  Found a new church.  Moved home.  Took our first vacation.  And now we're expecting a baby.  I can't wait to see what God has in store for the next eight years.

Jason, there isn't anyone that I'd rather spend my life with than you.  You are a wonderful husband and I can't wait for the day when I get to see you become the father that you've always been meant to be.  I love you!

Recipe Wednesday - Pork Fried Rice

I have been inspired by the Pioneer Woman's recipes to make mine more user friendly. So, starting this week, I'm going to try and include more picture with steps!  We'll see how often I have time to do this.  :)

This weeks recipe is really easy and was so good! I have been craving anything Thai, Chinese, Japanese, etc during my pregnancy so I'm excited to have found something that I can cook at home.  If you enjoy any of the kinds of food listed above you'll love this.  And I'm betting that it would be just as good with chicken or shrimp too which makes it very versatile!

Pork Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 pound boneless pork chops, cut into 1/4" strips

2 scallions, trimmed and sliced (I omitted these)

2 packages (8.8 oz) fully cooked brown rice

1 c Frozen Peas, thawed

1/4 c Soy Sauce

2 t Sesame Oil

Here are the ingredients measured and cut up.

Heat the skillet to medium and fry egg.  You should just leave it until it's together enough to be flipped and then cook through until it's one large piece of egg.  Remove and put on a cutting board.

Replace the egg with the pork chops and turn the heat up to medium/high.  Cook the pork strips until there is no pink remaining.

Once the meat is cooked through add scallions (if you're using them), brown rice and peas.  Cover and cook for an additional two minutes.

Cut up the egg into small pieces.

Stir in egg, soy sauce, and sesame oil and heat through.

Serve warm!

Please let me know whether you like this format or just a plain recipe with one picture better!  Also, I have a word doc of the recipe so that it's all in one place without the pictures but I can't figure out how to add that to the post.  I'm not sure that that is something that Blogger supports.  If I can't figure that out then I'll just go back to the regular recipe's so that they're easier to save off for future use.  If anyone knows how to do this (embedding a document in a post) let me know please!

Goodies for Charlotte!

During my lunch break today I got a great "happy" in the mail! I've been expecting the items that we ordered a few weeks ago when Mom, Kelly, and I went to the monogram store and it just now came today!  Everything is so cute! Now Charlotte finally has some monogrammed goodies!  Here are some pictures!

I love this beautiful bib.  She might never wear it but I wanted to get it anyway!  Isn't her monogram beautiful?!?!

And here are her precious bloomers!

Here's the "fun" bib that I got for her.  She can wear this anytime! :)

Charlotte's Memma (my Mom) got her these beautiful things:

The "ultimate" swaddling blanket -- thankfully it comes with instructions!

I love this super-soft blanket.  It's fuzzy and cuddly on one side and cool and silky on the other.  Charlotte is going to love using this blanky!

You can't beat adorable burp cloths! I love how thick they are and how cute!

I can't believe that I haven't posted on the sweet gift that Caroline gave Charlotte over the weekend.  In case you're new to the blog, we are HUGE Alabama fans and since our mascot is an elephant Charlotte is going to have TONS of elephants in her room! Basically, every time Jason or I see one we have to buy it for her.  So she already has FOUR stuffed elephants and one elephant blanky in her nursery.  Last week, while I was buying cute clothes on Etsy before CPSIA makes them stop selling, I found three cute elephant outfits and ordered them.  I'll show them to you when they get here.

Anyway, Caroline gave Charlotte the perfect gift! A hooded towel and washcloth with an elephant on it!  And bows! Who can believe that this little girl had not one bow in her room before Caroline gave her these sweet ones?!?! I know, I'm shocked and appalled at myself also.  Thankfully, Caroline came to the rescue so that Charlotte won't have to be bow-less.  Thanks Caroline (and Kelly)!  Charlotte will love these gifts!

This might be enough pink for one post but I'm sure I'll top it eventually! Happy Tuesday everyone!

Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival

I'm hoping to have my ducks in a row to participate in next quarter's Bloggy Giveaway Carnival but for now I'm just browsing and entering the giveaways.  Go and check out the carnival! But make sure you have plenty of time to spend finding things that you want to enter for! My lunch hour was taken over entering drawings! :)

Give Thanks

Just a little encouragement for this Monday:

"Give thanks to the Lord, Call on His name, make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted.   Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things -- let this be known to all the world!" - Isaiah 12:4-5

I hope you have a great Monday and that it's the start of a wonderful week!

What we've been up to....

I feel like it's been forever since I've posted.  I had Recipe Wednesday set up Tuesday evening to post Wednesday morning but since then I've barely had time to check my Reader much less post.  What a week it's been for us!

Tuesday evening Jason started having excruciating back pain.  However, it only stayed for a few minutes and then just left his back a little sore.  Later that night though it came back and stayed for about three hours. Looking back we should have done something then but we both felt like it would pass and he'd be able to go to the doctor the next morning.  However, when he got up Wednesday morning to go to the doctor he immediately experienced the pain again.  It was so bad that he literally could not move.  At that point we called an ambulance and went to the ER.  

Jason was able to be seen by doctor's and given some prescriptions to ease his pain on Wednesday afternoon.  Since then he has not had the intense pain of before and he is slowly working his way back to being up and around again.  The doctor's couldn't find any cause for the pain but he has a follow up appointment Monday morning with our GP to confirm that.

So since Wednesday Jason's been hanging out in bed and I've been taking care of him.  I'm just glad that Charlotte isn't here yet because I don't think I could have made it with a baby and Jason.  He's been a great patient but it's hard taking care of someone 24 hours a day.  So it's been a pretty long week.  Thank you for those who knew what was going on and have been praying for us.  We're praying that this is an isolated incident and not something that becomes recurring.  

This week has definitely been a learning experience for me.  Jason is rarely sick and seeing him in so much pain was so scary.  It's terrifying to watch the person that you love and depend on be so helpless and in so much pain.  It's been a struggle for me to give my concerns and fears to God this week but over and over again He keeps reminding me that being in control is His job, not mine.  It's easy to let your mind wander into worst case scenarios but it's a lot harder to remember that God is more than big enough to carry all of my fear and worries.  While I never want Jason to have to go through this again it's been good to be reminded of this before Charlotte comes into our lives.  I have to remember that God's the one in control and that He has a plan.  

So thank you for praying for us.  And thank you for praying for Harper also.  She is doing remarkably better.  At one point in the past few days they had her down to 45% oxygen which is fantastic.  Kelly posted this morning that while they're anticipating another two weeks in the hospital the doctor told them this morning that Harper should be off the ventilator and awake by next week.  Keep praying for this sweet little girl and her parents.  Harper is not healed yet and still needs your prayers.  But thank you for joining in on such a strong prayer movement.  It's amazing what happens when Christians gather and pray in Jesus' name.  Miracles DO happen.

Have a good Saturday!

A letter from Jenna and Barbara to Sasha and Malia

I haven't learned yet how to embed videos in my post (if someone wants to teach me, could you please??) but I saw this in my Reader this morning and had to share.  Regardless of your politics, everyone should be praying for President Obama over the next four years.  Praying that he has wisdom and sound guidance.  Praying that he will let God use him in a mighty way.  Praying for him to leave our country better than it was when he took office.  But I sometimes forget to pray for his family also.  I can't imagine the pressure that you live under when you're the First Lady or when you are the children of the most powerful man in the world.  This morning Pete over at Without Wax linked to this video from the Today show.  Watch as Jenna and Barbara give Sasha and Malia advice about how to live their lives in the White House.  And then remember to pray for these young girls.

Recipe Wednesday - Honey Chicken and Rice

If you haven't guessed we really love chicken at our house. And we really love rice. So any time I can combine the two I'm a happy camper and Jason is even happier. Last night I made a new recipe that I saw in my Real Simple magazine. If you don't get Real Simple I highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite magazines by far! Anyway, this recipe was created for Honey Chicken Skewers on the grille. Well, even though we live in Alabama it's not quite grilling weather. So I modified the recipe to basically make it chicken in the honey sauce and I baked it. I then put it over brown rice. Talk about yummy! And so easy! This recipe only have 5 ingredients! Enjoy!

Honey Chicken and Rice
1/2 c Ketchup
2 T Honey
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
One package of your favorite kind of chicken (I use tenderloins)
Uncle Ben's Brown Rice (ours was in a pouch but you can make it for real if you want)

1. Mix ketchup, honey, and Worcestershire in a medium size mixing bowl.
2. Cut chicken into bite size pieces (approximately 1" square)
3. Place chicken into sauce and coat thoroughly
4. Spoon chicken and mixture into cooking dish
5. Bake on 350 for around 25 minutes
6. Cook rice as directed

Question, do y'all like recipes for desserts/sides/etc better or would you prefer more dinner recipes? I just want to make sure Recipe Wednesday is helpful! I would also looove to try your recipes so send them my way if you want! I might even feature you or let you guest blog Recipe Wednesday!

Internet Goodness

Just wanted to pass along a few great posts this morning.

Go and check out Kelly's blog for an update on Harper.  She is still in critical condition and needs our prayers but she is healing slowly but surely.

Lots of Scotts has a great letter to President-elect Obama as he gets inagurated today.  She also links to a site that has other letter's to him.

Snow Day! Well...sort of!

So I spent most of this afternoon on the phone in a meeting.  That happens at least a few times a week and so I've gotten used to it.  The thing that made this meeting even better was that I got to stare out my window at really large snowflakes coming down the whole time!  So, I know those of you who live up North wouldn't really consider what we got snow since none of it stuck and it was really just snow flakes who melted as soon as they hit the ground, but it was still pretty to me!

Since Jason was off today he took Luca outside and played with our new camera during the snow.  Luca isn't a huge fan of anything wet falling on him and apparently he's not a fan of pictures either because Jason said he would run away from him when he tried to take his picture but Jason managed to snap this one that I just had to share.  I might have had three years of photography classes but I think my husband did a great job with this picture! :)

I hope you enjoyed your day!

Crossing it off the list!

First, let me thank those of you who have been praying for Harper.  The last thing that Kelly or her Dad posted said that Harper isn't even on the list anymore for the heart/lung bypass because she is recovering so well on her own.  How amazing to watch the prayers of God's children work a miracle in this family's life.  Please keep praying! Harper isn't out of the woods yet but she is doing so much better!

Jason and I have had such a busy (and productive!) day.  Last night we went out with the intention of ordering Charlotte's rocker and baby book.  But both stores in town were closed when we got there! To say that pregnant girl was a little disappointed is a major understatement.  Jason was planning on playing golf with Tripp this morning so I resigned myself that crossing those items off of my To-Do list wasn't going to happen until next week.  But then the course was closed today because of all of the cold weather so we got to go shopping!  Sorry Tripp! :)

If you know me or have read my blog for a while you might have noticed or guessed that I'm a little...what's a nice way of putting this...structured.  :)  I love having a to-do list and crossing things off of it.  I also love having things done waaaay ahead of time.  Is anyone else like this? It might make me feel better if I knew that I am somewhat normal and not just crazy! :)  Anyway, so I wanted to get the rocker and baby book off of my baby to-do's so we went out today with that mission and boy did we get it accomplished!

We ordered this rocker in a pretty chocolate fabric with a fun pattern for the nursery.  It is the most comfortable chair that swivels, rocks, and reclines!  Jason threatened to just hang out in the chair in the store all day but I pulled him out because we had things to do!  You can go here to check out the other chairs that the company offers.  And just as a sidenote, the chair looks much better in person and much less modern in person than it does in the picture.  I loved it when I saw it in the store but wasn't sure when I looked at the picture but I figured I better go with what I love in the store and not base my decision on the picture in the catalog.

Then we went to the other baby store in town and purchased Charlotte's monogrammed baby book.  It's beautiful and is just what I wanted!  One of the things that I love, but also that worries me, is that basically it's just a cover that goes over a 3-ring binder.  It comes with pages but they didn't have any samples so I wasn't able to see what they looked like.  So now I'm going to look online and see if I can find more pages that I love to put into the book.  If anyone knows of a good place to get some pages please let me know!  Here's a picture of kind of what it looks like...except without the ribbon and with a brown ruffle around the edges.  And it will have Charlotte's initials instead of her name.  

I'm also about to send Kim my fabric swatches and paint color for the nursery so that she can start Charlotte's name painting! I have been looking forward to ordering that painting ever since I found out about Kim's site.  It will be so much fun to have a painting for "Baby Mo" by Kim in the nursery and one for "Charlotte".  I can't wait to see what Kim decides to paint on the painting!  I love everything that she does so I'm just going to tell her to have fun with it!

And that brings me to the bedding which I need to order soon.  I've picked it out at Polka Tot Designs and am super excited about it! I think it will be beautiful with her monogram on it.  We're going to paint the walls a soft pink and our furniture is brown along with the rocker.  I can't wait to order it and get it in! It's the Classic Paisley Pink pattern in the "Crib Set Favorites" section on Polka Tot's website.

So, really, my to-do list is getting pretty short now! I need to decide whether I want to buy matching fabric from Polka Tot's to make the curtains with or if I want to find something coordinating on my own.  I probably will just make a valence instead of full drapes so that they won't become a safety hazard -- does anyone have an opinion on the best kind of curtains in a nursery?  Then we need to find a rug and a few more odds and ends like lamps and a chandelier!  It's amazing how much more real everything seems with a crib put together and stuffed animals all over the room already! 

Happy Saturday everyone!

Kelly and Baby Harper

In case you haven't checked Kelly's blog, Harper was moved to St. Francis' hospital in Tulsa, OK last night.  She is in the NICU there is is stable.  At 5:30 AM this morning Kelly posted that the hospital was doing a few more tests before placing her on a heart-lung bypass machine, but the doctor's gave Kelly and Scott hope, which is fantastic.  Pray works! 

Please continue to keep this family in your prayers.  While the prognosis for Harper get better througout the night they still have a very hard time ahead of them with a lot of unknowns and worry.

Kelly's blog is here and she's updating is very frequently

Kelly's Dad's blog is here and he's also updating frequently

Baby Harper

Please pray for baby Harper and Kelly and Scott.  Harper was born tonight at 7:03 PM and was taken to the NICU for trouble breathing.  From what Kelly has posted on her blog, Harper is now in very critical condition and has been taken to the Arkansas Children's Hospital.  Please pray for their family and for Harper's full healing.  Please pray that Kelly will be well enough in the morning to be released so that she can go and be with her husband and baby girl.  Please pray for Scott and his parents as they travel to be with Harper.  Please cover their familiy in prayer.  We know that God works miracles and tonight the Stamps need God to work one for them.

Faith has more information about Harper on her blog.  It appears that Harper has pneumonia.

Kelly at Kelly's Korner

One of my favorite blogs is Kelly's Korner.  Kelly is so sweet and is having her first little girl, Harper, today! Kelly has already blogged from her L&D suite this morning and is determined to keep all of her blog friends updated throughout the day, while she's able.  I just love reading Kelly's blog for numerous reasons.  One, she has great ideas.  Like recently she's been making tutu's for Harper and she included instructions online.  Then she made iced sugar cookies and chocolate dipped pretzels to give out to her guests at the hospital! I mean, who does that?!?! Kelly does! And now I plan to in May, so if you want something sweet come and see Charlotte! :)

But not only does Kelly post fantastic ideas and fun tidbits about her pregnancy she is also such a wonderful Christian woman.  Kelly and her husband struggled with infertility and she has been open about it on her blog.  If you're struggling with that, Kelly is definitely a good person to talk to.  She is also a terrific prayer warrior.  She has started a prayer blog where she lists all of those who have come to her with prayer requests for a child or a husband.   Kelly prays over these women daily and wanted to give others the opportunity to pray over them also.  The amazing this is at the last count there are 13 women on that blog that have gotten pregnant in something like 10 weeks!  That just goes to show that God shows up when people pray!

So, if you're looking for a good blog to follow go and check out Kelly's.  If you want to be a part of an awesome prayer movement, go and check out her prayer blog.  If you want to have many, many people praying for you, get Kelly to add you to her prayer blog.  And, if you want to support Kelly, go and leave her an encouraging note today about Harper's birthday!

Do you love handmade items? I do!

So you know those precious blankets and burp cloths and slings and passy clips, etc that you loooove buying (well, that I loooove buying)???  Turns out the a bill has been signed into a law that goes into effect in February that will essentially shut down the hand made market for items designed for those under 12 years old.  A Boy, a Girl, and a Pug had a great post about it here linking to more great posts if you want to read about it.  I won't say that I know a lot about this law yet because I just heard of it, well, this morning, but what I've read so far is pretty uncool.  To summarize what I've gotten from my reading this morning, the bill should have specified that each item produced from countries like China, Japan, Thailand, etc that comes into the USA should have to be tested for lead and other chemicals.  THAT'S a good idea.  THAT helps keep babies and children safe from products that are made substandarly.  But since that wording wasn't in the bill, each and every item that is sold in the USA for children has to be sent to a certified lab and tested.  So if you are making blankets and selling them for your friends babies and you don't send each one to a special lab to be tested that they aren't free from these chemicals, if you sell them after February of this year you are breaking the law.  It nothing is changed places like Etsy will be virtually closed for baby products.  Even items that you're reselling on e-Bay must be tested!

Go and check out A Boy, A Girl, and a Pug's post about it and read some of the sites that she links to.  I would hate to have the option of these items taken away.  And think how many people who depend on that extra income will be devestated financially.  

Recipe Wednesday - Baked Potato Soup

Last week when it was so cold and rainy I decided to try out this soup recipe that I've been saving for a while.  It was so easy because all I had to do was throw it in my crock-pot and let it cook by itself all day!  It turned out so good and so filling! So, if you're looking for soup that will really warm you up, give this a try!

Baked Potato Soup

6 large Russet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 in cubes

1 large onion, chopped (I just used onion powder instead to keep the consistency the same)

3 14 oz cans Chicken Broth with roasted garlic

1/4 c Butter

2 1/2 t Salt

1 1/4 t Freshly Ground Pepper

1 c Whipping Cream

1 c Shredded Cheddar Cheese

4 slices Bacon, chopped and crumbled (I used 5 pieces but if I was serving for more than just the two of us I would definitely cook more slices)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1. Combine potatoes, onion powder, chicken broth, butter, salt, and pepper in slow cooker.

2. Cover and cook on High 4 hours or Low 8 hours.

3. Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup is slightly thickened.  Stir in the whipping cream and the cheese.  

4. Sprinkle with bacon and cheese before serving.

*This recipe is from Southern Living

Doodle Bugs winner.....

And the winner is.....

Lindsey, email me and I'll send you Kacey's email address so that you can claim your prize! :)

Thanks to everyone for participating!  

First peek at Charlotte's Room

Yesterday after church Jason and I decided that we were going to get the big box out of our dining room and put together Charlotte's crib! We figured, since the two of us are engineers if we can't put it together by ourselves we might need to give our degrees back!  Thankfully, we got it together with next to no pain.  It seems so odd having a crib in our house! Does everyone else feel like it was so surreal at this stage?!?!  I love the crib but the picture isn't that great.  It will look much better with a pink wall behind it!

So I thought I'd show you a little peek at what Charlotte's room is looking like now.  We got the closet install complete and I've moved all the little clothes and stuffed animals and toys over and its starting to look like a little girls closet at least!  Mom, Kelly, and I went to this cute store a few towns away on Saturday and ordered Charlotte the prettiest blankets and burp cloths and bibs! They're getting monogrammed right now but I can't wait to show them to you when they get in!  I can't wait to have something with her name on it!

The Marlowe crib from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child:

The closet soon to be filled with lots of cute dresses and bows and shoes!

The bookshelves; I absolutely love the way they turned out!

Here is an adorable Christmas dress that Jason and I got for Charlotte Friday night.  Mom and I saw a precious little boy and girl in matching outfits like this when we were in Atlanta for the SEC Championship and I was lucky enough to find one on sale on Friday! I can't wait for our sweet little girl to wear this dress about the real meaning of Christmas next year!

I would have loved having a little boy, but it's so much fun buying dresses and pink things for a little girl! :)

To all you Mom's out there, I'm a little overwhelmed with all of the things that all the books and websites say that I "need".  Can you tell me what your "must have" baby product(s) is?? I want to make sure that I get everything for sweet Charlotte that I really need but I don't want to buy tons of things that I'll never use!  Thanks in advance for your help! 

Bakerella

If you've never happened upon the Bakerella's blog you should definitely add her to your Reader. I aspire to be able to make cookies and cakes and cupcakes as cute and yummy looking as her treats! Yesterday she posted about something that I simply must try making this week, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies.  If your mouth is watering go and check out this post about them and you'll be craving chocolate even more!

P.S. I'll post the winner of the Doodle Bugs drawing tonight!  But even if you don't win, go and buy yourself a nice treat because I can assure you, they have something that everyone will be dying for!

Doodle Bugs Giveaway

In case you haven't already signed up there's only one day left in the Doodle Bugs Paper giveaway!  Go check out this post to see the rules and leave me the entry comments for the giveaway.  Make sure you go check out Doodle Bugs' website and leave me a comment on this post telling me what your favorite item is.  Also, if you  left a comment with your favorite thing from Doodle Bugs AND the message telling me that you became a follower, you should leave an additional comment that you became a follower.  That way you're entered for the drawing twice instead of just once. 

Good luck!

Giveaway!

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed.  I'll post the winner tonight!

Doodle Bugs Paper Giveaway!!

Kacey at Doodle Bugs Paper has been sweet enough to provide a giveaway for us!  I ordered some Christmas presents from Doodle Bugs Paper and they turned out so great!  Here is what they looked like:

And then I won a contest on Doodle Bug Paper's blog a few weeks ago and I received this oh so cute package yesterday!

I also ordered these too cute pregnancy notes for my baby thank you's!

Doodle Bugs has soooo much adorable stuff that this is only a small sample of some of my favorites!

Bag tags for your diaper bag or anything else! She can put your name, address, and other info on the back.

Little boy bag tags for his backpack, luggage, anything!

I think Charlotte needs some of these!

I've been wanting some Mommy calling cards but had to wait to order them until we knew baby's name!  I'll be ordering some of these shortly!

The cutest moving cards!

Kacey has return address stamps of "From the Kitchen of Stamps" or tons of other kinds of stamps!

These would be perfect wedding thank you's!

So, for the giveaway Kacey is going to personalize the Pink Polka Dot notes and labels that are shown at the beginning of the post.  It is going to be so easy to enter!  To enter, just go and check out Doodle Bugs Paper and come back and post a comment telling me what your favorite item is. You can also enter AGAIN by becoming a follower of my blog.  Just click the "Follow Me" link on the right and then leave me a comment telling me that you just started following me.  If you're already a follower just enter a comment and tell me that you already follow me.  The giveaway will end Monday morning around 7:30 AM.  At that point I'll use a random number generator to choose the winner and I'll contact you!  So make sure you include contact information in your comment.  If I can't get in touch with you I'll draw again.

So again, the guidelines.

1. Go to Doodle Bugs Paper and come back and leave me a comment with your favorite item.

2. If you are already a follower or you become a follower of my blog, leave me a comment telling me so.

3. The giveaway ends Monday morning, January 12th.

Good luck! And thanks Kacey!  

And the baby is....

A girl!

We're thinking pink at our house tonight!  Our ultrasound went great this afternoon though the appointment after did take a while.  Sweet baby girl wasn't positioned in a really great position to be able to see everything but they were able to check all of her vitals and everything looked perfect.  We were afraid that we wouldn't get to find out baby's name, but we eventually found some pretty good signs and are fairly sure that baby is a girl.  We'll get confirmation when we do our 4D in a few weeks but we're pretty confident that Baby Mo is a little girl.

We are so excited!  Jason asked me while we were waiting to see the doctor if it was ok now to say that he really wanted a girl.  I told him that now is the perfect time to say that!  It looks like Jason and I were both incorrect on the baby pool.  Although, I will tell you that I told Jason last night that I was pretty confident that it was a girl.  I didn't change my vote because I didn't want anyone to think I was cheating, but I did think that!  I know, I know, no one's going to believe me, but it is the truth! :)

Sorry it took so long to get this out here but I found that since I can't send emails on my phone I couldn't post from the road and we went out with family for dinner to celebrate.  I hope none of you were too antsy about the big reveal! :)

Jason and I at dinner reveling in the big news!

Mom and I at dinner

And now for the biggest reveal...baby's name!  Growing up I always had tons of girl names and NO boy names so I always said I wanted all girls since I didn't like any boy names.  But around this time last year I found the perfect boys name that I loved and found that I didn't like any of my girl names anymore!  So it was a little difficult for Jason and I to pick out a girls name that we just loved.  We finally found a name by talking through our heritage a little bit.  

We both have multiple men in our family who have the name Charles either as a first or middle name.  My brother, my great-great grandfather, Jason's grandfather...I'm sure that there are more that I'm missing.  One of my grandmother's names is Charlene which is a form of Charles.  And so we liked Charles as our boy's middle name and then Jason found that Charlotte is another feminine version of Charles.  And I loved it!  It's a very traditional name but one that isn't heard that often (although now that we're naming our baby that I'm sure that I'll meet tons of them!).  Charlotte is also pretty fun and whimsical also, at least that's what it makes me think of.  A little princess.  Which fits baby girl perfectly! :)  We decided to have her middle name be Lee because it's also a family name.  My mom's middle name is Lee and my great-great grandfather's middle name is Lee also.  So we decided on Charlotte Lee.    I like it!

Since you know me you know I'm way into getting things done early.  I'll start showing the crib bedding and other goodies that I've got picked out soon!  While I would have loved a boy, a little girl is going to be so much fun!  Thanks for sharing this exciting journey with us!

Appointment

I just wanted to clarify for everyone that our appointment isn't until 3:30 so it will probably be later tonight before I can post!  I don't want anyone thinking that I'm leaving them out! I'll let you know AS SOON as I can!  I might even try and figure out how to text message a post in...maybe I can research that over lunch.  If anyone knows how to do that and wants to help me out that would be great! :)

I feel like I'm 5 again and it's Christmas Eve! The wait is just so exciting!

Baby Pool

The baby pool is locked! Thanks for those who made guesses! I can't wait to see who ends up winning!  Over the next few weeks I'll be announcing the prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.  Only 8 more hours until we find out what baby Mo's name is! :)

Recipe Wednesday - Upside Down Pizza Casserole

This is a fantastic, easy recipe that I got from my friend Erin!  Jason and I both loved the recipe and I'm betting that kids will love it too!

Upside Down Pizza Casserole

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 15 oz. can Italian-style tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzerella cheese (6 oz.)
1 10-oz. package refridgerated biscuits (10)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In large skillet cook beef until brown; drain off fat.  Stir in tomato sauce, heat through.  Transfer mixture to a 2-quart rectangular baking dish (I use a 13x9 pan).  Sprinkle with cheese.  Flatten each biscuit with your hands; arrange the biscuits on top of cheese.  Bake about 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden.

Our ultrasound is tomorrow!

My heart almost stopped today when I got a reminder at 3 pm today that it was only 24 hours until I needed to leave for our ultrasound!  I can't believe that it's so close!  I'm praying that everything will be perfectly wonderful on the ultrasound and that Mo will really want a color coordinated room and so we'll be able to tell whether Mo is a he or a she!

I know that tomorrow is going to make this whole experience even more real.  We've had a lot of moments in the past few weeks where it sinks in that this is really happening.  Our contractor is finished putting in the closet system in one of the nursery closets and the bookcases in the other.  They look so good and are exactly what I wanted!  Like I said last week, our crib is sitting in a huge box in the dining room just begging to be put together.  We have an assembled stroller and car seat in the guest room along with an unassembled pack n play, activity gym, Boppy, clothes, toys... the list goes on and on!  We've even picked out girl fabric and boy fabric and are just waiting until tomorrow to say which one is "the" fabric!

So tonight will pretty much be like Christmas Eve again for me.  I might stay up all night just hoping tomorrow will get here faster! :)  I'm going to close the baby pool at ExpectNet in the morning so that no one can change their guess once we determine who baby is.  And I'll definitely blog about our results and our name tomorrow night!

Sugar Bowl

We had a really fun time in New Orleans over the weekend, except for the hours that we sat in the Superdome and watched our boys crumble. Other than that and the fact that I was getting sicker by the day we had a blast.

Jason and I went down to Tuscaloosa to stay at the condo on New Years Eve to try and cut my car trips into two smaller trips.  There are no pictures from New Years Eve because our evening was just too fun filled!  I mean, what else can you call dinner at Full Moon (which really was superb), a shopping trip to Target, and watching half of 21?!?!  I can only imagine what our New Years Eve's after having a child are going to look like! They can't get much more boring! :)

On Thursday we met Charlie and drove the rest of the way to New Orleans.  We stayed at the JW Marriott right on Canal which was so centrally located.  We were the only five of maybe ten Alabama fans staying at the hotel but thankfully they all left early Saturday and we didn't have to bother with them!  For dinner we walked down Bourbon to a restaurant called Embers.  It was good but my goodness, I'd forgotten how much I dislike Bourbon Street!  It just makes me sad walking down it!  Here are pictures from dinner:

On Friday we all slept late and then walked across the street to enjoy lunch at The Palace Cafe. It is really neat inside and had really good food!  We shopped some at Rubenstien's next door to the hotel.  It is such a nice men's store that they have a valet for the store!  Maybe it's just that we live in Alabama, but I can not think of another store that has a valet!  I made Jason try on some Rag and Bone jeans that were on sale because I read that they're Jon Hamm's (from Mad Men) favorite jeans but sadly, the ones on sale didn't fit.

After shopping we hung out in the hotel bar/restaurant (aptly it was a Shula's restaurant -- we should have known our game was going to go badly!) to watch Ole Miss annihilate Texas Tech.  That was a lot of fun!  And pretty much the football highlight of the weekend since we lost and then Charlie's Falcons lost.  Here we are at the table that became ours over the weekend.  

Luckily, our hotel was centrally located so it wasn't too much of a trek to the Superdome on Friday evening.  Also, we were very fortunate that all of the weathermen were wrong and it wasn't raining.  The walk home from the game would have been so much worse if had been raining!  Here's a full shot before the game with the belly so that everyone can see how huge I am!  I'm having a hard time believing that I'll be able to get bigger but I know that it will happen! :)

We'll skip over the game except to say that we, again, had fantastic seats.  We were just across the aisle from all of the player's families so that was fun.  

Saturday was our "shopping" day because Mom and I usually require one.  Sadly, with my growing stomach I think the guys found more stuff that they wanted in the autograph store and gun and coin store than we found!  Lunch at Red Fish Grille was great and then we proceeded to go out shopping on Royal and Decatur streets.  Thankfully it just drizzled off and on throughout the afternoon so we were able to stay (mostly) dry.

Saturday night we went to Emeril's restaurant Nola.  If you have not eaten there you have to go!  It was amazing!  We had plans to go to Cafe Du Monde after dinner but when it started raining sideways while we were eating we decided to stay and eat dinner at Nola.  I'm glad we did because that was when things got exciting!  Charlie is an international business major and so, conveniently enough, he had to go and study in Italy a few summers ago.  He apparently was introduced to a Scotch in Italy called Lagavulin that he has not been able to find since he left Italy.  Well, Emeril provided a great dessert menu that offered the beloved Lagavulin so Jason and Charlie both tried it!  Charlie almost disowned me when I told him I needed a picture of him and Jason with their Scotch but he was a good sport!  When they were ordering their scotch they talked Dad into getting some Cognac.  So there's a picture of him and Charlie and their drinks also!

We tried to get a cab to take us back to the hotel but couldn't flag one down and the street in front of the restaurant had been closed so they couldn't call us one.  That ended up being a great thing though because we ran across a wine store that had Lagavulin and the Remy Martin that Dad drank so the guys got those for the wine cellars as their souvenirs! :)

Overall, it was a great trip!  During the ride home yesterday my cough kept getting worse so I went to the doctor this morning.  I don't have strep or anything, just a horrible cold, so there's not much that they can do.  But the extra rest I got today while I took the day off of work has really helped me feel better.  I feel much better now than I did tomorrow.  Now all I have to do is count down the hours until my Wednesday appointment!

In case you made it all the way through that post, congratulations! :)  I got word from one of my favorite retailers, Doodle Bugs Paper, that she wants to do a giveaway on my blog.  I should be ready to put up the giveaway by the end of the week so be on the lookout for that post!  Have a great week!