Full Term!! Today is our D-Day!

We'll it's due date day! And we still have a (big) bun in the oven! According to my email updates, were the size of a small pumpkin! I have to breathe deep just to get past that thought!

 

We had our weekly doctors appointment yesterday and had made a little progress. I have been feeling different today and have had a few 'hurty' contractions but they are not close enough together to start the stopwatch yet! Hoping baby is getting ready for shim's little debut! We are so ready to meet our little love! Keep you updated! 

Various

1. Im not sure if when you click on the ‘view full album’ link from the brett post if it will show you the pictures. Will someone leave a comment and let me know if that is working for you?

2. We are still pregnant! We thought FOR SURE yesterday was the day, but it was just a false alarm. I wish I knew what labor felt like so I could tell if were getting there or not! I guess we’ll know soon enough!

3. CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER TO OUR FRIEND CAROLYN!!! Carolyn just found out she and her husband are expecting! Carolyn is our missionary friend in India and we have been praying with her for her community for years now! Congratulations!! We are so happy for you!

Field Trip!

Charley bug is in Washington DC this weekend with her school! As far as we know, she was able to go see some sites, despite the terrible snow storms they’ve had there the past few weeks! I can’t wait for her to come home so we can swap pictures and hear all about it! She was SUPER excited so I hope they were able to do a lot! One funny (for us, not her) part of her trip is that the coordinator of the trip boasted about how in 20 something years of taking kids to DC, he had never lost one child. His ‘keep up with ‘em’ tactic? Behold…

American Flag baseball hats! It is mandatory that whenever they are out as a group, they have to wear these hats! Ha! But not a bad idea!! Here’s charley and her precious friend claire right before their flight left! Hopefully they were able to get some cute non-hat pictures together, but this one is still precious none the less! We’ll keep you updated on her fun trip! 

Hiested Pictures from Aunt Mamy!

I have found a new resource for pictures of our family! Woo hoo! Aunt Mamy’s facebook page is stocked with family goodies!

I don’t know the story behind any of these, so I’m just posting a bunch of cute pictures of the Brett’s side of the family since they are generally unrepresented on the blog unless they come to town and I can attack while they’re here!! :)

Enjoy! (Click on ‘view full album’ to see the pictures in detail!)

View Full Album

View Full Album

View Full Album

View Full Album

View Full Album

View Full Album

View Full Album

Still Pregnant! 39 weeks!

'Nuff Said...

We are patiently waiting on God's perfect timing for our sweet little baby! We still feel great! Baby has started waking me up pretty regularly in the middle of the night, but that gives mom great bible study time! I have anxious moments, but overall we just want a healthy baby... no matter when that is!

Another episode of perfect timing? Guess what I found in the baby's room last night? 1 very quick, agile little mouse. Hyperventilate now, just like I did last night,  then make my husband cross his heart and promise that we will exterminate said mouse asap.

Meatloaf and a Movie Review!

I know everyone probably has their go-to meatloaf recipe, but this one is just plain good! I hate thinking about meatloaf... especially with a chef in the house. It is literally a loaf of baked meat. Ugg. That thought grosses me out. However, we always have the 'this is so gross' conversation, then clean our plates everytime we make this! It's hard for me to make this for someone who can cook ANYTHINGINTHEWORLD, but, I am a mere american housewife, so yes, we too eat meatloaf! Serve with mashed potatoes and you'll please your crowd, promise.

Meatloaf
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 1 onion, diced
• ½- 1 green bell pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the beef, bread crumbs, onion, pepper, egg, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce. Form this mixture into a loaf and place it in a shallow pan. Stir together the remaining tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire. Pour this sauce over the meatloaf. Bake for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes with the pan juices. 

Now to movies! We watched New York, I Love You the other night. Wow. It has this line up of practically every famous person in hollywood and it was horrible! I almost fell of the bed laughing because right when it was over Powers started waving his hands around in the air and said 'That was all of their worst movies ever!' So true! We still have no idea what this was supposed to be about! 

 

Here's the cast: You would think it to be fantastic! WRONG! Not good!

	Bradley Cooper
	Natalie Portman
	Shia LaBeouf
	Blake Lively
	Ethan Hawke
	Orlando Bloom
	Christina Ricci
	Hayden Christensen
	Justin Bartha
	Anton Yelchin
	Rachel Bilson
	Robin Wright Penn
	John Hurt
	James Caan
	Drea de Matteo
	Andy Garcia
	Chris Cooper

Nothing new :(

We had our doc's visit this am and left with no new news. I was a little disappointed because everything has felt 'in action' lately, but I am totally okay with baby still wanting to be with me! I still feel great and couldn't ask for this whole process to have been any better, so Ill take a little time of no news and count it as good news! We'll keep you updated!

38 weeks and holding our breath!

Wow! Can you believe it? I am really emotional today thinking about the past 8.5 months. Where did they go? Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was praying for just ONE of these? Now its almost time to meet my little tiny baby face to face! I love our Creator! I can’t believe this journey!  His plan is so perfect in every way! He is immeasurable to me! I have been blown away time after time after time as I’ve seen God’s blueprint for this baby’s growth revealed and realized how He intended to change ME in the process…. there is no explanation for life other than GOD IS GOOD AND PERFECT.

This update makes me so excited! Ahh! Baby’s daddy is ready RIGHT NOW. No more waiting needed for him… let’s just do this! He is feeling better and is ready right this minute! I am okay with God letting us know when it’s time! We are having braxton hicks contractions finally! We had them all day Monday! We go back to the doctor tomorrow morning so we’ll see how much we’ve progressed since last week! The anticipation is finally getting to me! Do you think Shim is a boy or a girl?! Who is baby going to look like?! Will it have precious dimples like it’s daddy? Will it have big ole eyes like it’s momma?! We’ll know soon enough I guess!! :)

 

Your pregnancy: 38 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.
Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Chicken Pasta Salad and Pot Soup

I am on a mission for us to eat healthy and save money. (Translation, eat salads and stop spending so much eating out!) We have one chef and one decent cook in our house. No reason to not cook all the time! Plus it’s fun! Here’s what I’ve tried this past week:

Booper’s Chicken Pasta Salad

My 2 cents: You can taste the red wine vinegar in this a lot, but we really liked it! It’s light, for pasta… the sauce isn’t thick and heavy. Powers really liked it and he’s my good food gauge!

Chicken Pasta Salad

Dressing:

1 c. mayonnaise

1/2 c. red wine vinegar

2 T. lemon juice

2 T. dried dillweed (i didn’t have this so I just left it out and it was still good!)

     Whisk together until smooth and set aside.

Salad:

8 oz. fettuccine noodles or tri-color rotini pasta (We used rotini)

3 T. olive oil

2 lbs. or 4 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into bite-size pieces

1 c. chopped celery

1 c. chopped green pepper/could also add red bell pepper if you like

1/4 c. chopped green onions

4 oz. chopped pimento, drained

2 T. creole seasoning (will make salad pretty spicy, can cut back if you’d like!)

1 c. chopped toasted pecans

*opt. 2 c. fresh broccoli florets (I didn't use this in mine)

     Cook, rinse, and drain pasta.  Toss pasta with 3 T. olive oil.  Chop all veggies and put in a large bowl, add Creole seasoning and stir.  Add drained pasta, chicken, & pecans and toss with all of the dressing.  Would be pretty served on a red lettuce leaf but Taylor and Powers never even made it out of the bowl to a plate.  Must have been good!

 

Next up:

Beth Hamby’s Potato Soup

1- 2lb. bag of Ora Ida hashbrowns (NOT the shredded)- thawed

1 can cream of chicken

1 can cream of celery

1 can chicken broth

1 pint of half and half

1 cup of milk

2-3 T butter (to taste)

garnishes: crispy fried bacon (a must), sliced green onion, and shredded cheddar

mix all your liquid together then put your potatoes in.  Cook until potatoes begin to get mushy and soft and blend in with the liquid to make it very thick! (30 minutes or until desired consistency)

(notes: We left off the cheese… didn’t need it in my opinion but we used a lot of bacon and green onions! It was yummy and really easy! Good for a sick husband!)

Sunburst Baby Shower! And a little update!

The sweet families of Sunburst Financial threw us a baby shower today! It was so fun! I work with the greatest bunch! They are all so family oriented and I love watching them raise children and grandchildren! They are wonderful examples to learn from!

My favorite part of the shower? This…

   

It says “Hello Mommy! Good Bye Tummy!” Ha! Another AWESOME part of the party? BSIL (Best Sister-in-Law) showed up with these! Woo hoo!!

These guys came also and had a blast!

Fun at Dad's office from Taylor Lane on Vimeo.

At the end of the party I found this one sitting at one of our conference room tables reading to one of our advisors! She’s something else!