The weeks roll on...

I found this post that I never published from last year. It is really fun to look back and see how I was feeling in the first trimester. This was also before we found out that our baby was coming sooner than we thought! Now I have a baby girl that is almost 3 months old. How did that happen?!

*originally written 6/4/12*

The weeks go by as our little secret grows and grows. I am getting more used to the fact that I am actually pregnant and there will be a little one we need to take care of by the end of the year...Still, its pretty wild. On Friday we went to our first doctors appointment with our new OBGYN. I had to switch since my doc was in Philly and I don't work in the city anymore. :( I called a few places and this office was sooo nice and accommodating that I decided to go with them. Tim and I went all excited since I was just about 10 weeks and we were ready to get a chance to hear the heartbeat. Well, after what seemed like an eternity, she gave up. No heartbeat. My heart sank. She didn't seem worried at all and said that I the little one was nestled pretty far back so it would be tricky. Still- it was pretty hard to hear that empty doppler as it traveled across my stomach. I felt so guilty especially since Tim was soo excited to hear the baby. But what can you do?

We have our 1st ultrasound in less than two weeks...right before our 12 week mark and fathers day! I hope I can make this fathers day memorable for Tim and we are able to see our "Little M" in all their glory.

As for how I'm feeling?

Night sickness has become the new "morning sickness." Basically from week 7-10 I was getting up at least once a night feeling sick to my stomach. I got physically sick once and the rest of the time I just ate some crackers, drank some water, hit the loo (can Americans say loo?) and stayed up until it subsided. Lately I have been able to sleep through the night so hopefully that means it is ending soon.

My clothes are getting tighter but its just because I am eating pretty much whatever makes me feel better. That happens to be starches; especially pasta. An Italian just like its Momma ;) No real other symptoms besides being tired more easily by the end of the work day and maybe having to pee a little more than usual. The doc said I might not show until later since the little one is tucked in the back but who knows.

Now I need to concentrate on another goal...a 5K! Yup, I registered for a 5K months ago and it is coming up quick. I haven't ran in a few weeks so I need to take my time. My goal is to just finish in a somewhat decent time. We will see how it goes. I am having a hard time catching my breath while working out lately. I'll let you know how it goes. :)


ps: The race was hot but it went well. Nothing like running while 16 weeks pregnant in 90+ degree weather. 

Priorities

Well I'm sure you have guessed it. I fell off the blog wagon again but this time I had a good reason.

Meet Hannah Caroline Matthews. She was born on Wednesday, December 5th at 3:55PM. She was 6 lbs. 13 oz and pretty adorable if I do say so myself. :) We have had time to adjust. Things were not always easy for us first time parents but Tim has been a pretty amazing father.

Anyways I have lots to update on here but I'm not sure how fast I will be working on that. However I wanted to document Hannah coming into our lives. She is pretty adorable and is already growing so fast.

(hopefully) more to come later...

Being Thankful

I really want to take a moment to stop, reflect and be thankful. It would be easy for Tim and I to forget about all the holidays this year when our house is being turned upside down as we get ready for the baby, work on the bump out and refinish our floors.

But I am determined to take a moment to take a deep breath and give thanks to a few deserving people.

1) I am thankful for my husband.

We have been so crazy these last few months that we can't help but get on each other's nerves sometimes. But that doesn't stop Tim from bending over backwards to make sure he can get as much done as he can for us. That includes staying up late and waking up extra early to jam as much work in one day as he can. Not only is he a loving, caring husband and partner in crime but he is already an amazing father to our pup and our growing baby girl. :) I have told him repeatedly that there is no one else I could do this with and I really mean that.

2) Our Family and Friends

We have had to cash in a lot of favors over the last couple of months. Between working on the bump out and moving everything out of our house (and now back in) we have been relying on some awesome friends and family who have really come through. It just goes to show you how important it is to have a support system and to acknowledge their generosity and help. So thank you to all of our friends and family who have been there to throw us an awesome baby shower (more details on that later), work on the bump out, paint parts of the nursery and help us move out of the house for the floors. Words can't express how grateful we are for your support and we hope you all know we would do the same for you in a heartbeat. :)

3) Our pup

Yes- James gets a special shout out as well. It is not easy to have two crazy parents who are working around the clock and changing everything around on them but he has been as cool and understanding as any dog can be. He has really gone with the flow and just been there for us with cuddles and an excited tail wag. He was a little hesitant with us at first for getting rid of the carpet...

... but in the end he got over it and let us do our thing. So thank you James for always being such a great dog for our changing family. We know that you are going to be a great big brother who will love his little sister (especially when she starts dropping food). Our lives wouldn't be the same without you.

4) Our growing family

It wouldn't be right if I left out one of the biggest things I am thankful for...our baby girl.

Tim and I are so excited to meet this growing little girl. She has been very understanding with all the work we have been doing to get ready for her. That includes helping me have a relatively uneventful pregnancy so I can continue to work full time and work on the house at night. And when Tim and I are feeling really stressed and worried that things won't get done, she gives us a little kick to remind us why we are doing all this. So thank you baby girl. Mom and Dad can't wait to meet you soon! #lessthan2weekstogo.

There are so many other things to be thankful for but this post is already making my hormones go crazy. So I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and takes some time to stop and remember what they are thankful for!

A Little Getaway

Also known as a babymoon. Never heard of it? Its apparently a "newer" trend. It is one last honeymoon of sorts that a couple takes before they become a family of three. Usually women like to go in the second trimester when they are feeling better but not too big. I was really looking forward to taking a babymoon because I knew we were going to be busy in the fall with work and all the house projects. So when Tim's Aunt and Uncle offered us their downstairs apartment in Ocean City, NJ anytime after labor day- I jumped on it.

Breathe in the salt water air with me. Ahhhh

We decided to just do a long weekend. Just enough time to get away and relax but not too long to fall behind on work and house projects. Unfortunately I didn't take a ton of pictures since we were just trying to get away from it all but we did snap a few to remember the occasion.

Although we had a rainy first day, we still managed to get in some time to walk the boardwalk and go to Brown's donuts. If you are in Ocean City, NJ, you need to get a donut there. I couldn't even take pictures because our hands were covered in delicious, fresh goodness. I justified eating 3 donuts by walking a mile there to get them. That burns it all off, right? :)

The next day the sun came out and we hit the beach to do what I was looking forward to for the whole trip- relaxing on the beach and soaking some sun in (with suntan lotion of course).

 It was amazing. We had a great location not to far from the boardwalk for bathroom and food breaks and we had a great umbrella we borrowed from my parents for my handsome fair skinned husband.

After a perfect day at the beach we decided to try a great seafood place. Although my seafood consumption was limited to certain dishes I still wanted some delicious seafood. We were at the beach after all. We headed to Smitty's Clam Bar. It's a tucked away location off the 9th Street Bridge. Its a BYOB and the wait is long but worth it. We had a 30-45 minute wait but it flew by hanging out by the pier with other patrons as they drank and met up with friends and family.

The food was delicious. We got big cups of clam chowder and while Tim had a seafood medley, I got delicious crab cakes. Totally worth it. Again, I failed at taking pictures.

Saturday was our last day. We had a childbirth class on Sunday that we needed to get back to but when we woke up it was raining. I was so sad because most of the trip was rainy but we decided to make the best of it. We rode bikes in the morning along the boardwalk and then decided that we might as well pack up and head back early. As we were packing, we looked up and the sun broke through the clouds. Needless to say, I was excited and ready to squeeze one last beach day. This is my "take the picture so we can get dressed for the beach" face.

We spent a few hours on the beach and the boardwalk. While we were there we enjoyed a car show on the boardwalk and I got one last ice cream trip in.

Overall, it was a great and affordable little getaway for both of us. Of course we couldn't really stop talking about Little M and reading our baby books but it was nice to just get away from everything else we had going on and enjoy the end of summer.

So has anyone else taken a babymoon? Where did you go?

Burlap and wedding bells

So we are going to pretend that August and September never happened. To be honest it was a very big blur. I can't even really remember where it went but now its the beginning of October and I have completely neglected this blog. We have been doing lots of things so I feel its time to step it up. Plus, we broke ground two weekends ago on our bump out project that we talked about earlier this year.

But I do want to talk about the project that we worked on for my brother in law's wedding. The dilemma: an outdated swan stain glass picture in the reception hall. My sister in law hated it. It taunted her and screamed traditional and old fashioned. So after some discussion we decided that a really cool burlap tapestry would be cool since they were going for an outdoor/ modern barn theme. I started thinking about what we could do and I figured I would create some stencils of something meaningful.

We laid out some burlap on our small kitchen table and got to work. Originally she wanted a poem on the burlap but with the small time before the wedding + my hectic job + my growing belly, I couldn't make it work. It happens. But I believe things like that always lead to something even more creative and fun. And I think in this case it did. We decided to go simple. We would do L & G. (The first letter of their names) It would be simple, not too distracting.

I found some great font using howaboutorange.blogspot.com. They have links for free fonts to download. Of course since this was in August, I don't have it anymore. I will keep digging. Anyways, I sketched it out on freezing paper and then I cut out the stencil with an exacto knife. I have to admit that while I was working on this I was plunged back into my college days in my dorm room at 1AM trying to finish a project for one of my art classes.

After they were all cut out, I laid them out on the burlap and ironed the freezing paper onto the burlap. This keeps the spray paint from spreading. I also ironed on the scraps around the letters to prevent the spray paint from going everywhere.

It was ready to go. I had to work late so my hubby jumped in and took the burlap outside and sprayed the stencil with trust ORB. It came out great.

Next up my mother in law, who has a great site called Tess' Totes, sewed canvas to the back of the burlap so it would be thick enough to hide the swan and to create a way to hang the piece using a dowel. Unfortunately we could not find a picture of it from the wedding so here is a shot of it in my MIL's craft room. It's a little wrinkled from the wedding but it came out great.

Here are some other highlights from the fun day. They had great weather, a great party and her bridesmaid dresses were uber flattering; especially for a preggo like me. :)

So what else have I missed? I will be back with some bump out updates, fresh homemade tomato sauce and other nursery projects.

Camping themed Bridal Shower

Meet my brother in law Greg and his beautiful fiance, Liz:

In just a few short weeks they will be walking down the aisle and we couldn't be more excited for them. Since all of Liz's family and friends are all over the country, my mother in law and I decided to throw her a little shower before the big day with everyone close to all of us. Even her mom flew in from Texas! We decided on a camping theme since Liz's true test of our family was coming to our annual Canada camping trip (in the pouring rain) and because she is the "S'mores Queen."

I started searching Pinterest for some motivation and inspiration and found this picture:

link

and this:

link

We decided to work from there. We decked out the Matthews country style home with red and white picnic table clothes and various lanterns that Kathy happens to collect.

They were really fun and just added that special something to each table. We also decided to set up a s'mores making station in honor of Liz's love of the delightful treat. We set up a simple fire pit so everyone could have a sweet treat later that night.

To keep the delicious treats going, we also got some yummy cupcakes. Keeping with the camping theme we also asked the baker to focus on fun camp scenes. She came through and gave us some whimsical cupcakes that were fun and delicious.

It was fun to see the baker let her imagination run wild with the camping theme. They were clever and fun. I love that little bunny cookie and magic trees. And if you can't tell, that last cupcake was a camp fire made out of pretzels and even toasted marshmallows to boot!

But what we were really excited about were the favors that we gave the women on their way out. We went with the earlier inspiration and gave everyone their own personal s'mores.

 I loved the saying from the pin so I used the same line. It was too cute to pass up!

Our own favors came with giant marshmallows that I found at Walmart and we even added their own camping skewers to take with them on their next camping trip. Those were a hit for sure!

So those were some of the highlights of this fun camp out shower! Can't wait to show you the other fun projects that are going into their wedding but we have to wait a few more weeks to show you them. Do you love theme parties as much as I do? Making those favors were way more fun than I should admit. :)

The Big Reveal

We are so excited to announce we are having a...

 

We are welcoming a baby GIRL to our little family!

Our ultrasound technician guessed a girl a few weeks ago but now it is official. We are so excited to have a baby girl to even out the gender in our little family. Now our minds are wrapped around cribs, nursery designs and most importantly, NAMES! We will make sure we share the good news as we go along since it is new for us and hopefully this can help someone later down the road.

As for now things are hectic with an excited upcoming wedding in the family. My brother in law is marrying an awesome girl and I couldn't be more excited to have her officially become a Matthews. There will be more this week on the shower that Tim's mom and I threw. Here is a sneak peak of the fun we had creating it. Think Camping!

Whew...It feel like this little girl has already taken over this blog. :) Any other fun gender revealing stories to share? Did anyone see the cute gender announcement on Katie B.'s blog? It was too cute!

I had this funny feeling...

*written on April 17th. Go easy on me. I just found out*

On Sunday we spent the whole day gardening. It was back breaking. I was digging, weeding and planting with the hubby. I was really exhausted but I thought to myself that it was all the manual garden labor and I needed to get in better shape. Then that night when it came time to eat I was so excited about dinner but when Tim brought in the grilled veggies that I adore, I couldn't eat them. In fact, I felt nauseous. Shouldn't that have been a sign?! I brushed it aside but still...I had this funny feeling.

Monday rolls around and Tim left for another business trip. (he has been gone every week that month) I was really tired at work and still kinda off so that night I looked at James and thought to myself "maybe I should just take the last test in the box. Just so I don't think about it all week." So I did. Then I left the bathroom. I casually walked back in a few minutes later and looked at the test....

"HOLY S*&T!"- I said that out loud btw

I couldn't believe it. I mean really. I left it and walked back to look at it like 5 more times. Each time I left the bathroom I looked at the pup like he would have an explanation for this. (He didn't)

I was freaking out to say the least. It couldn't be. First off, Tim was traveling soo much this month. (I guess not that much)  Last month my supposed "window" was much later (Guess I was wrong about that too). Plus, I still had a week before my little friend flow was coming. *you will see in later stories that this gets explained* Yet there it was...and it was just me and the pup and whatever reality show I was watching at the time.

At this point I was thinking- I need to call Tim.

But he was traveling and I really wanted to see his expression in person. Plus, if I was him I wouldn't want to find out when I am hundreds of miles away in a hotel room. I grappled with this back and forth for a little bit a long time. I even picked up the phone at one point but I resisted.

I can keep this secret...even if its for 3 more days. I didn't want to call any of my close friends yet because Tim didn't know and I wanted him to be the first...besides the pup and I. So that was it. I freaked out in our living room the rest of the night. I started calculating when I was due, what "it" was doing right now in my stomach and what was I going to do about all the things we had planned. That is kinda where I am right now. It's almost like a dream because its just my little secret. No one knows so it almost doesn't seem real. And it all started because I had this funny little feeling...

Side Project :)

It's time to come clean. I have been keeping this to myself for awhile but now that I have started to withhold information on our latest projects, its time I come clean....Tim and I have been working on a little project of our own that we are really excited about.


(Sorry this picture is dark)

That's right. Tim and I are expecting our first baby this winter! I'm pretty excited and now that the cat is out of the bag to family, friends and work, it was time to spill the beans on here. This is not an excuse but it is a factor as to why I have been a bit quiet on here. Everything we are working on lately has been surrounding our newest addition. I actually wrote a few posts when I found out (it was just me and the pup!), telling Tim, going to my first few appointments, our changing due date and so on so I will share those over the next few days.

As for some details, currently I am 19 weeks and 2 days. I feel great and am finally starting to show. It's pretty surreal but we are pretty excited. I hope to take you guys on our journey as we find out whether its a boy or a girl (next Friday!), replace rugs upstairs, make our office into our nursery, change our guest room into an office/guest room and try to even squeeze in our bump out plans! Whew! Tiring just thinking about it.

Hope your ready for some fun!

Annual Camping Trip

I'm so excited! Our annual camping trip to Canada has arrived. That's right. Every year we pack our cars, take our pups and head to Canada to ring in the 4th of July. This trip is something that Tim's father plans every year. He loves it and 6 years ago Tim and I started tagging along. It's in Plevna, Ontario at a remote camping ground called Tooley's Lodge.

The trip consists of canoeing, camping, making smore's, hiking and lots of fishing. Although you could term this "roughing it" it by no means feel like it is.

In fact, waking up every morning and paddling out to a nearby rock is practically "resort like:

I really enjoy fishing at one lake in particular: Graham Lake. Mostly because I get extremely lucky there every time!

We eat fresh fish multiple nights while we are there. Nothing beats fresh bass cooked over an open fire. My mouth is drooling just thinking about it! Of course the humans aren't the only ones who look forward to this trip. Our puppies (never less than 4) always have a blast running without leashes, getting wet every day and exploring the woods.

James loves this trip. He loves getting wet and dirty and just being able to roam free. Its one of the few vacations he goes on with us so he soaks it in for all its worth.

I'm excited to hit the road tonight and enjoy the trip. This year we are bringing an even larger crowd but that just means it is sure to be a good time. I will be sure to tell you all about it as well as some helpful tips for fishing, packing and large road trips with a large restless puppy! Until then, Happy 4th of July!