Mommom & Poppop Visit

This past weekend, Bean was blessed with getting to meet her Mommom & Poppop!  Steve's parents were able to visit Saturday - Monday and soak up as much time with Bean as possible before their return at Thanksgiving!

Usually when Steve's parents visit, we have a list of activities planned and are in constant motion.  This trip was quite the opposite.  It was very low-key and we spent a lot of time just being together and them getting to interact with Bean.  Steve's sister was even able to come up for the day on Sunday (I think she just used her parents' visit as an excuse to come see Bean!).  It was great to have more help around the house and with baby.

(Mommom & Poppop!  Bean was not cooperating with the photo shoot!  We tried to get pictures with her eyes open and the minute the camera was up, she'd start fussing or close her eyes.  Crazy kid!)

(Poppop got Bean her first - and sadly not the last - Ohio State paraphernalia.  I wasn't sure she'd take that pacifier - not because of the obvious Ohio State written on it -- but because it has a different shape than she's used to.  She lasted long enough for the picture. Maybe in a few months she'll grow into it!)

(The Ackerman clan!  We'll have to take another photo at Thanksgiving to get Scott and Ian in the picture.)

(Before Mommom & Poppop left, we were able to take Bean for a stroll around the block in the stroller that they got for us!  The weather was perfect for test driving her sweet set of wheels.)

We look forward to having a houseful yet again for Thanksgiving!  We'll make sure to have a list of activities planned for next visit - like food preparation and leaf raking!  Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, and we can't wait :)!

Bean's First Days at Home

I realize Bean is already 2 weeks old and has only 1 blog post to her name.  Yikes!  I need to step up my game.

From the get-go, Bean has been a super baby!  She nurses like a champ and required no assistance in the learning process.  The girl is definitely her daddy's daughter and LOVES sleep!  When we first brought her home, I had to force her awake to eat every 2-4 hours.  I've always heard "never wake a sleeping baby" and wasn't going to do it, but Bean had jaundice and required extra feedings to help get the bilirubin out of her system.  The child just wanted to sleep and wasn't interested in eating.  I'd have to strip her down naked, and constantly tickle her feet to keep her awake.

She was born on a Wednesday and we brought her home on Friday afternoon.  Because of her jaundice, she required daily blood work checks at the hospital starting on Saturday morning.  I wasn't sure what to expect with the check, but wasn't prepared for what was in store.  In order to test her bilirubin level, they pricked her heel to make it bleed, then rubbed her foot to collect the blood drop by drop.  She cried through the beginning, but soon fell asleep. The phlebotomist was having issues with her bleeding slow and then clotting, so he had to prick her other heel!  Ugh, this momma was more upset than Bean was.  We had to go back for the checks a total of 4 times! Boy was I happy when the number was on the decline and we didn't have to put her through that anymore!

Bean had a pretty steady trickle of visitors since she's been home.  My sister and nieces came along with 2 other close friends which made for a busy Saturday.  Steve's sister and brother-in-law came to meet Bean on Sunday for the afternoon.  We had several friends provide meals which was a huge blessing!  At first, I didn't see the need for meals, but after receiving those first few blessings, I realize how nice it was to not have to worry about figuring out what to eat!

My mom came back the day before Steve went to work to "help out" with Bean (okay, really she just needed some Ahm time!).  She and I were able to tag team snuggles with Bean and clean the house (okay, it was already cleaned, but needed some freshen up - thanks mom! - as well as just day to day things like dishes and laundry) in preparation for Steve's parents to visit.  While mom was here, I was even able to get out of the house a couple times to run to the store.  She even "sacrificed" an evening to watch Bean while Steve and I went to dinner.

Bean still sleeps in our room in a bassinet, but when she gets up in the night, she and I head to the nursery so we don't disturb Steve sleeping.  It's giving me good practice of getting out of bed and going to her room in preparation for when she'll be sleeping in there all by herself.  I keep saying she'll transition into her room this week, but I'm not sure when that will officially happen.  She'll do great in sleeping in there, the issue is more with me not being ready (after all, I've been in constant contact with her for almost 10 months!). I have a couple concerns about her being in her room #1 - I worry about the temperature in her room; however, after spending some time in the nursery in the middle of the night, her room has been a pretty good temperature so that excuse can't be used anymore.  #2 - She doesn't really wake up crying when she's hungry.  She sort of stirs and whimpers and I worry that I won't hear her through the monitor until she's in full meltdown mode.  I'll keep using this excuse for a few more days!

And now for some cuteness:

(Headed home from the hospital!  Bean was not amused by her parents shenanigans in trying to get her secured in her seat.  You would think that an easier - and more comfortable - safety system would have been invented by now.  You try getting a wiggly newborn set just right into a carseat and get the appropriate limbs secured by the right straps.  Sheesh.)

(Home Sweet Home!)

(Cousins!  Just missing Charlotte, she was with us in spirit - ha!)

(BFF Meg meeting her little nugget.  She even supplied Bean with her very first Birthday cake, which mommy and daddy enjoyed!)

(Looking all cute and rooting on Peyton Manning for her first Broncos game.  Unfortunately, her cuteness was just too much for the Broncos and they lost their first game for the season.  Wahhhhhhh!)

(Sun bathing!  Laying in the sun helps get over jaundice.  Technically they are to lay naked in the sun, but it was too cold to strip her down.)

(One of daddy's favorite pictures!  Bean has some of the BEST faces.  Most of them appear a little on the hateful side as this one shows.  She just seems really unsure with her surroundings and the clowns taking care of her.)

(Some very much needed Ahm time.  When are you coming back?!)

Bean's Birth Day

Baby Bean is finally here!!  For privacy reasons, we've decided to keep her name off the blog for now.  So from here on out, she'll be known as Bean :)

From the very beginning of the pregnancy, I was set against induction.  I had heard too many horror stories about inductions being very painful, lasting all day, and oftentimes ending up in a c-section.  I had the option to be induced up to a week before my due date.  I chose to stick it out and hope that labor would start naturally.  As a formality, my doctor had me set up an induction for 10 days post due date, even though he didn't think I would go that long since I had been showing progression at the weekly checks.  By the time my set up induction rolled around, I was more than happy to be induced and finally meet baby!

I was to be at the hospital at 6am Wednesday October 16th.  After receiving much advice from a friend who is a labor and delivery nurse, I showed up to the induction around 6:30 (no one said anything about being late)!  Why be there earlier than what was really necessary?!  My parents had come in the night before and went with us to the hospital.  They waited in the waiting room while I changed into my beautiful gown (ha!) and Steve and I settled into our delivery room.

(Last Pregnant Belly Shot!)

(Awaiting the mayhem to begin. . . )

The nurses started to ready everything, starting with an iv.  I am not one for needles, and especially don't like to think about ivs being stuck in your hand.  While they were putting it in, I got light headed and began to get sick.  After some smelling salts, cool air and some ice, I was okay to continue.  I was concerned about being hooked up to pitocin from the very get-go and had a discussion with the nurse to make sure she agreed I was ready for it (there are other medications and things that can be done before pitocin if the cervix isn't ready).  I was already at 4cm and almost completely effaced.  She assured me I was a prime candidate, and she hooked it up around 7:30.

At that point, we had my parents come back to our room to wait with us.  I wasn't really feeling much, so we just watched tv and hung out.  Around 8:30 they stepped out while the doctor came in and broke my water (no turning back now!).  About 20 minutes after the water was broken, I began to start to feel the contractions and feeling sick.  I fought the nausea as long as I could, but ended up throwing up - sorry Steve! My mom was there to help manage that portion of things.  After a few more bouts of contractions, I called it quits and ordered the epidural!  My parents headed back out to the waiting room while the anesthesiologist hooked me up (literally).  After the epidural and a catheter was in place, I was told I was up to 6cm.

By 10, I was feeling absolutely nothing and my parents returned yet again to wait it out with us.  Steve and dad were both working on the their laptops, mom worked on crocheting, and I just chatted away, watched tv, and texted on my phone.  I was feeling great and couldn't even tell when I was having contractions.  It was getting close to lunch time, so dad and Steve headed out to find some food while mom and I continued the wait.  When they got back, the nurse checked my progress and said, "It's time to have a baby!"  I responded with, "That's why I'm here!", and she then explained I was at 10 cm and it was time to push!  WHAT?!  Mom and dad said their goodbyes and left the room for the last time pre-baby.

(Post Epidural -- not what I thought labor would be like at all! Is it really time to push?!)

The nurse began to ready the room for the baby's arrival and then had me do some pushing.  At first, I wasn't sure when I was having contractions and when to push, but with her help, I was finally able to figure it out.  I would push in sets of 3 (do 1 push for 10 secs, and I would do 3 of those with 1 contraction).  The 2nd push was always the best, and the 3rd I'd tire out.  But I slowly made progress.  After 30 min, she called for the doctor to arrive.  Steve and I could barely wrap our heads around what was going on.  He wasn't prepared to be as close to the action as he was.  My legs were absolute dead weight from the epidural and Steve had to help hold one of my legs giving placing him close to the action - haha!

The doctor came in and I began pushing with him.  I only pushed for about 10 min when he said that she seemed to be slightly stuck and that he wanted to use the vacuum.  Her heartbeat would fall at a contraction (which is normal) and would then come back up, but it wasn't coming back up high enough for him to feel comfortable for me to just keep pushing to get her through.  It took longer to hook the vacuum up than to actually use it.  He attached it, turned it on and she came out with one push.

He suctioned her out and we waited to hear her cry, but she remained pretty silent.  I was almost beginning to worry when she let out a grunt.  Then it was time to push out the rest of her body.  Before I knew it, Bean was laying on my chest!  My first thought was look at that hair!  From that moment on, there was a flurry of activity with her.  The nurses took her over to the corner to clean and weigh her.  Steve went to be with her while the doctor finished me up.  I had a 2nd degree midline tear that required stitches.  I didn't feel it when it happened, but well aware of it now :-/.  After being stitched up, it was time for the placenta.  I got a little science lesson about it from the doctor while I waited for Bean to be returned to me.

(Baby Bean was born at 1:20 pm 10/16/2013 weight 7 lbs, 7 ozs and measuring 20" in length.  Check out all that hair!  No wonder I had such severe heartburn.  I guess it was worth it!)

Once I was all fixed up and she was cleaned up, the room cleared out and it was just Steve, Bean, and I.  We cuddled and fed her for the first time.  After an hour, Steve went out and got my parents.  They got to meet her and hear her name for the first time.  They were pretty excited to finally meet her!

(Cuddling with mommy after the nurses were done with her.  She wasn't really crying, just making crazy faces.  Her eyes were all wet from drops they put in to protect her.)

(Meeting Ahm & Abo!  We failed at the picture taking and don't have one of the three of us together.  I was preoccupied at the time.)

I got to stay in the delivery room another hour (I also got lunch while I was in there!), then I was transferred to our postpartum room.  They were concerned about Bean's temperature and needed to put her in a warmer as well as give her a full bath, so she headed off to the nursery during the transfer.  Dad left to go get Sara (who was at our house during the birth) and brought her back once I was settled in our room.  They needed to head back to IN, but had to wait a little extra time for Bean to warm up and be released to our room.  Sara was finally able to meet and hold her and then the two of them headed off, leaving mom to stay an extra day.

(I thought I felt great after delivery, but looking at myself in this picture, I realize I was pretty dazed.)

(Meeting Aunt Sara :-)  Sara was all concerned about what her name was going to be and whether or not it would be pretty.  Once she heard the name, she approved!)

We hung out the rest of the evening.  Steve headed out to pick up some dinner and when he returned, mom headed to our house for the evening.  It seemed surreal to have Bean just hanging out in her little crib next to my bed.  Nurses came in and out all evening to check on my vitals as well as Bean's.  She had to go back to the warmer before bedtime, but was then brought back to our room where she stayed the rest of the time!

(Daddy & Bean)

Still Waiting . . .

The post I definitely did NOT want to write:

(41 Weeks)

Baby is a week overdue!  I've transitioned from feeling like a ticking time bomb to feeling more like an overripe fruit.  I'm teetering between being just perfect and rotten, haha, and you can't tell when that line has been crossed.  

Every day I wake up thinking, is today the day?!  And every night I go to bed thinking, will it happen in the middle of the night?! I've been having contractions pretty steadily for the past 3 weeks, with them really increasing this week in intensity.  I still haven't had any that have taken my breath away, but I definitely see where this is headed.  Emotions and anticipation are running pretty high in the household.  When that is mixed with me being tired (sleeping has become more of a chore than a relief) I pretty much fall apart.  We've been blessed with friends and family who have offered all sorts of distractions, from outtings & phone calls to my parents and sister just showing up for the day.  

We know for sure that Baby Girl is coming this week as my induction date is set for Wednesday.  Last week, I was all stressed and a complete nutcase over the thought of an induction, and now, I'm killing myself that it's not set for tomorrow!  I would definitely prefer her to come on her own timing, but I'm not as fearful of an induction as I once was.  I'm over the stress of the anticipation, the fear of the process, and sick of being downright uncomfortable all the time.  Like I said, sleeping has become almost void.  I get up way too often to potty and it takes me too long to get back comfortable. 

I know once baby is here, there's no going back.  I'm trying to focus on this last bit of time that Steve and I have together, but we're both pretty over the "it could happen at any moment" mentality.  Everything is completely ready for her.  I've run all the errands I can come up with, stocked up on groceries and freezer meals, go to bed every night to a clean house (you know, just in case it's a middle of the night rush out), and have even tackled some old projects I had given up on.  We're just ready to get the show on the road and hold our baby girl (even though we both can't even comprehend what life is going to be like with her, let a lone the fact that she's 100% ours).  

So for now, we continue on our wait for Baby Bean.  I have an appointment tomorrow (not that I think anything will develop since the induction is already set up).  Everyday is one step closer to meeting our babe.  So for now I will just focus on one thing at a time.  What am I going to do tomorrow?!

Ticking Time Bomb

(I was really hoping to not have to take this picture, but Baby Girl had other plans.  Here's hoping to it being the last one!)

Lately, I've started to feel more like a ticking time bomb than a pregnant woman.  The closer and closer I got to my due date, I was all excited about how baby could be born at any moment, just like a bomb going off.  I'm absolutely terrified of the whole labor/delivery process and everyone always says that the closer you get, you just reach this point of being ready to get it over with.  Well I'm way past that point.  I'm so ready to have baby just so I don't have to worry about labor/delivery anymore!

Well here I am 2 days passed my due date (which is really just an estimate based off a date that I honestly guessed to begin with - Haha) and I not only feel like this bomb about to go off.  But it's the kind of bomb that counted down all the way to zero and never went off!  So now I have nothing to go by or hold on to. .. other than the induction date that has been set. . . 

I really really really don't want to be induced.  My doctor had been throwing that term out and even wanted to set up an appointment for yesterday.  I am non-confrontational and never rebutted, just kept telling him, let's wait, let's wait.  Well finally, yesterday we had to have the "induction discussion".  I was so nervous about the appointment just because of this conversation.  I felt he was going to force me into something I didn't want (I'm easily steam rolled).  I talked to several friends, got all sorts of advice, and went in with the support of Steve.  When the doctor came in he asked if I was ready to be induced.  I said no I don't want to be induced -- and that was that!  I didn't have to use any of my prepared speech.  Haha!  He was just under the assumption that I wanted one since I had never spoken against it.  

As a formality, I had to set up an induction date for 10 days past my due date.  It's his policy not to let pregnancies go passed that because you get into some grey area with potential placenta deterioration.  I was fine setting that date, I just didn't want it to be "oh you're a couple days post due - let's get baby out!".  

The rest of the appointment was positive as well!  I've now graduated from a 2 to a "strong" 3 (I'm guessing I'm fully effaced as well since he didn't comment on that) and baby is descending down.  I had the doctor do something called "stripping the membrane" thanks to advice of a close friend.  It sounds way worse than what it actually is.  The process just involves separating the amniotic sac from the cervix which kind of agitates the cervix and kicks it into gear.  With this process, there's a 50/50 chance you'll go into labor in the next few days.  It's not painful (or at least wasn't for me) and a quick process that it's worth a shot to get baby coming! 

I felt sort of crampy and had some stronger contractions after the appointment.  After dinner, I had extremely high hopes that something was happening, but here I am 12 hours later and baby is still inside with no signs of progress.  

So now I'm driving myself crazy with nothing to do, and no "counter" to watch click down.  I'm not sure who's more ready for baby to come - me or my parents.  I think they're going just as crazy as I'll call/text to give heads up on contractions and my guesses of if something is happening.  They are being troopers but I'm not sure who's ready to crack first - me or them.  This on again/ off again contractions is really getting old.  Baby Girl let's get this show on the road!

Steve tried to give her a a pep talk to come yesterday to get him out of work today (busy/long day for him) but she didn't listen.  This better not be a pattern she's beginning with disobeying her parents.  We'll have none of that!

BabyWatch Continued

. . . Highly Doubtful indeed.  Those high hopes of the last post being published after her arrival have been dashed.

I had high hopes of my next blog post presenting Bean, but she has other plans.  Everything is ready for arrival.  I just finished up cleaning the house and have no resorted to entertaining myself with random projects I've put on the way back burner.

Most recent accomplishment. . . A Broncos "Jersey" for Bean!

(Front of her Broncos onesie!  Luckily, our craft stores in town are right next door to each other.  I went back and forth between the two stores - with coupons in hand - to get the best deals on all the items I needed.  In the end, her new onesie cost a little over $6!)

(She will have no choice but to love Peyton Manning as much as her mother does.  I can't wait to wear our "matching" game day gear together!)

Now the big question is. . . will she be here before the Broncos play the Cowboys on Sunday?!

BabyWatch

**Note: I wrote this post on Wednesday & secretly hoping that she's already here by the time this post is released.  Highly doubtful though. . . 

(36 weeks!)

(37 Weeks!  Finally considered full term.  All baby does now is fatten up!  Also, you can't tell from the picture, but Steve chose to write a message on my little wipe board.  Something about freaking out about meeting her so soon.)

(38 weeks and definitely feeling it!)

(39 Weeks!  Will this be the last picture of Bean in the tummy?!)

I sort of had myself convinced that Bean would be early.  By the end of September, I stopped making plans and just lived in the moment, expecting her to come at any moment.  September has come to a close and now I know she will definitely be an October baby!  I decided to go back to making plans (even though now it's realistic I'm going to have to break them at some point!) because I'm going crazy just waiting for a sign she's coming.

There have been plenty of signs.  For the past 2 weeks I've been having contractions.  Sometimes they're in regular intervals, but most times they are random.  I've got an app on my phone I use to count the contractions, but most of the time, it just drives me crazy.  I'll forget to record one, or they just stop and I think, "I just wasted my time with those fake contractions!"  I have to keep reminding myself that they aren't really fake.  Every contraction I'm having now has a purpose, whether it's just Bean practicing for her debut, or my body actually progressing.  And yes, I am progressing!

I go to the doctor weekly and am now being check for progress each time.  3 appointments ago, I was told something was beginning and I was at 1cm.  2 appointments ago, nothing had changed and I was pretty bummed, especially when he threw out the induction word - don't get me started!  This past appointment brought back excitement - I'm at a 2!  Woooo!  He again discussed induction with me.  He wanted to induce on Monday, and I at least convinced him to just make it a regular appointment with possible induction on Wednesday.  I am in full out "Baby Come Out!" mode.  I know induction can be a great thing, but I also know it can be a horrible thing.  I"m hoping that Bean will just decide to stop stressing momma and come out on her own before Monday (although, this still stresses me out because I'm constantly analyzing every feeling I'm having and convincing myself labor is starting).

I've started taking walks, trying to stay up on my feet more, and even doing some little exercises on a stability ball in hopes of speeding up this process.  I also made these "labor inducing cupcakes" that ended up being a bust (seeing as how I ate them Monday night and baby is still on the inside).  All they did for me was give me some of the worst heartburn I've ever had (and I've had bad heartburn these past few months!).  They tasted good (that is if you like lemon), but they are sooo lemony you can just taste the acid.  Haha

(These cupcakes were pretty intense to make.  Probably the most involved cupcakes I've ever done.  It was a lemon based cake, infused with lemon syrup, topped with a lemon glaze - the white stuff- and then topped with a lemon buttercream icing.  They tasted like eating a lemon drop!  I made Steve try one.  His face immediately puckered followed by head shaking and "I don't like it!" So far, I've consumed 3 and no baby has showed up, so I'd say myth busted.  However, I got the recipe via my sister-in-law's pinterest and she swears by them! She's made them for several full term preggos and their babies popped out soon after.)

So for now, we wait.  At times, I'm scheming up new ways to help move her along, but then I stop and think. . . maybe I'll just continue to lay here and enjoy the peace and quiet while it's here.  But then I remember my last Tums is about to wear off and the heartburn will kick back up and I think "GET HER OUT!"  So I will just continue with the struggle of 'I'm ready for her to come and yet not ready for her to come'.  Not excited at all about the process it's going to take to meet her, and pretty fearful of the whole responsibility of a newborn.  But I think both Steve and I can now admit we're ready to meet our little girl and be a family of 3!

Food Prep for Baby!

In our home, I am the sole cook.  Steve has slowly been learning some tricks in the kitchen, but I know if we want to eat after baby's born, it's my job to have meals ready to go.

My friend stumbled across a blog called Once a Month Meals.  It's a website with meal plans that can be mass produced to provide you with a month's worth of meals in the freezer.  You select a month's menu from the archives (older ones are free, newer ones are for paid members only).  It comes with spreadsheets that allows you to input the number of meals/servings you want it to yield, and it gives you the shopping list needed to complete your meals.  We decided to combine forces and make a day out of it.  

Hindsight is always revealing.  We should have gone grocery shopping and prepped all the veggies in one day (or even start out way earlier than we did), but we knew there would be kinks we'd have to work out.  So instead, we headed to the grocery store around noon and purchased all the ingredients.  We split the cost in half since we were making meals for the both of us - score!

We headed back to her house, ate lunch and discussed the game plan.  I chose to work on chopping and prepping veggies as she chose to start working on the baking portions (I should mention that this is the same friend who owns her own cupcake business and writes a food blog - I was just really along for the ride and meals!).  We quickly learned that we should have read through the recipes a little more closely before actually starting.  We bought some things we didn't need (like the list called for 10+ onions, and we definitely used only 2) and were short some items (how the heck is 2 cups of cheese supposed to produce 10 quesidillas?!).  

We finished up all the baking and cooking just before dinner time.  Upon which we both realized we had husbands to feed and no desire to cook dinner!  Haha.  I helped her clean up her kitchen, loaded up my car with my bounty, and marveled at all we accomplished as I loaded it into my freezer.  Now I feel like I'm sitting on a gold mine.  Several times I've gone to pull a meal out to use, and thought "No! Wait for when baby is here!"  I will admit, we did eat one of the dinners on a day I just didn't want to cook.  It was very yummy and we look forward to the next freezer meal!

(Look at all those yummy baked goods!  We each came out with about 15 pumpkin pancakes, 13 pumpkin muffins, 9 granola bars, and 4 broccoli/cheddar biscuit muffins.  I will admit I've already consumed some of our pumpkin pancakes and muffins.  It's so nice to just pull one out of the bag in the freezer and pop it in the microwave!)

(Our full bounty before we separated everything.  In the end, it didn't equate to an entire month's worth for the both of us, but it definitely is enough food for a solid 2+ weeks.  The serving size/meal quantity was another kink we had to work through.  I know I"m going to forget all the meals, but I'll attempt.  We both ended up with 5 quesadillas, 1 big bag of taco soup, 1 big bag of chicken wild rice soup, 1 Parmesan chicken meatloaf, 1 chicken enchilada lasagna, 1 chicken/stuffing bake, 1 salsa chicken crockpot meal, 1 articoke/spinach pasta dish, tons of meatballs/gravy, and 1 beef stroganoff meal.  "1 meal" can definitely be consumed over multiple days, so that's how you end up with more than just a weeks worth of stuff.)

(Close up of the goods -- notice the labels taped on the bags.  Not only does the website produce the grocery list & recipes, it also produces labels for each meal that tells what the meal is and how to prepare it after it's frozen.  Awesome!  Now all Steve will have to do, is pull out a meal and follow the instructions - sweet!)

(The real only catastrophe of the day - another kink that needs to be worked out.  When you're mass producing meals, you need really large pots.  Neither of us had thought that through nor had big pots to use.  The stroganoff proved to be especially tricky and may have resulted in a small fire.  Don't worry though -- Sara has great insurance! Haha, I guess I should explain she's married to an insurance agent, who also happens to be our agent.)

I've also done some other food prep on my own.  When Liz (my sister-in-law) came to visit, we had plans of working on a few meals I wanted to make ahead and freeze.  It didn't happen that weekend (because we were too busy with other activities!), and I did it over a few days the next week.  There are some specific sauces I like to fancy up (like spaghetti for instance.  I take a jar sauce and add in onions, meat, mushrooms, etc) and decided to mass produce them.  I made big pots of my spaghetti sauce and a special alfredo sauce and then divided them into small bags to freeze.  I also made up a couple lasagnas and pans of macaroni and cheese to add to my freezer.  Now all we need is baby to come so we can partake of these meals - haha!

Guess Who Came to Visit?!

I'm yet again behind on blogging.  Only this time, it's not because I don't have things to blog about, and I also can't blame not having time.  This time, I haven't blogged because my computer has been in the "doctor's office" haha.  Some weird things have been happening with my email/phone and Steve decided to take a look at my computer.  Apparently there's some questionable items that have been flagged and he's been working on cleaning it up (even though I haven't noticed any difference in how it's been running).

So now to catch you up yet again on what's been going on around here.  A couple weekends ago, my brother, his wife, and their 2.5 year old daughter came to visit!  This marked their first visit to our house and we had a great time with them!  While they were here, we tried out a local cafe (with gluten free options for my brother), went to my friend's cupcake counter grand opening, tried out a Thai restaurant (which was quite the experience when it's very lacking in the service department), and ate a gourmet breakfast of pumpkin pancakes thanks to my sister-in-law's amazing cooking skills!

Sadly, I have no pictures of their visit.  You will just have to take my word on all the fun we had with our cute niece and watching her shenanigans.  That child never stops!  She got to test run out Bean's room, and I think it passed her approval ;-).  She constantly wanted to go to "Baby's room" and even played with some of Bean's stuffed animals and baby items.  She just had to put her cousin love on Bean's stuff, too!

Another great perk of their visit -- my brother solved my phone problem!  Just prior to coming to visit, they switched to a new phone plan and got new phones.  I then bought his old smartphone (a galaxy nexus) off of him for a great deal.  The battery is pretty weak on it and I have to charge it a couple times a day, but other than that it works like a charm!  It feels so strange being linked back into technology constantly.  Don't tell Steve, but this phone may just convince me that a slide out keyboard isn't necessary.  I miss feeling the keys, and struggle with lots of typos, but I'm learning and accepting it!