28 Weeks

Merry Christmas to You! 

"So Merry Christmas everyone 

And Peace throughout the year

The time has come to celebrate

So let your voices fill, the air

Everyone, watch and pray 

that the sun will shine on a brighter day

Join your hands, lift them high

For this gift of life" 

28 Weeks!

Merry Christmas Baby and friends! Excited for a week of celebrations!  xoxoxo 

27 Weeks

Ho ho ho!  Only ONE week until Christmas! Let's all pause for a deep breath, ok more deep breaths... So despite all the joy and  excitement I can't help but have some anxiety about all that still must get done - packed / shipped / baked / wrapped in the next few days.  Whoa Nelly.

One week from today we'll fly home for a 9-day celebration - Christmas, my 1st baby shower, a WEDDING (not just any wedding, my sister's wedding!!!), and loads of family & friend time! The excitement is almost too much for this pregnant gal.

The soon to be MR. & MRS.!

This weekend we went to a Holiday party for one of Nick's customers and I decided to wear an oldie but goodie dress (well, it's more like a top these days). I debuted this dress in October 2007 when I was visiting Nick out in Boulder, Co.  Oh how we have changed and not just physically!

Then

Now

Baby, you are taller than a Barbie doll this week! You weigh over 2 pounds and head to toe are 14-15 inches. That seems really tall to me.  I love all your moving and even kicking; it makes me giggle. This week you got several adorable new outfits from the sweet ladies who attend St. A's.  I often feel like I'm birthing you for the entire congregation as they all refer to you as "our baby." I don't mind and you'll love it when you arrive and get to meet them all!

Dorsey wanted to say Hi to Baby

Last week of my 2nd Trimester

Baby, you are so loved already. I hope you are enjoying this special time of year from within; I can't wait for next year when you are here!!  xoxo

26 Weeks

Season's Greetings Friends! Have you gotten in the Christmas spirit? We finally have and it's about time! In addition to the constant hum of Holiday tunes on Pandora - I finally watched Love Actually (an all time favorite!), sent out our Christmas cards and put up some Holiday decor. We opted to not put our tree since we'll be heading home in just two weeks (eeeeeeeeee!) and this Mama wasn't up for the challenge of unwrapping all the ornaments, unraveling the lights, etc.  Yes, I'm pulling the pregnancy card.

Ho, ho, ho! 26 weeks!

 Switching up from our usual spot for something a little more festive

Baby, you weigh about a pound and two-thirds and measure 14 inches from head to heel.  You are very active these days - I wonder who you get that from?!  Today during church when Pastor Paula was praying I think you were doing a gymnastics routine.  ; )  


We've reached the point where everyone asks about you as soon as they see me, even strangers. They are very curious if we have picked out your name - we haven't chosen one yet. Your Dad and I have a few favorites but we aren't sharing with anyone...


We are planning and praying for you every day. I hope you are enjoying all the Christmas music, next year you'll be 9 months old & what a different Christmas we'll be preparing for. Exciting! 


Have a great week all! xoxo   

25 Weeks

I am happy to report that the shock of the 6 month mark has passed at our household and if anything it was a motivator that it's time to start registering for baby.  Registering is both fun and overwhelming.  I had wonderful advice from fellow mamas to get me started but still there are SO MANY CHOICES and I am the person who reads the reviews of every product to see why someone loved or hated it.  To sum it up, in one hour I successfully picked out 5 products!  At this rate, the child will be in preschool and I will have finally selected her highchair... ; )

Still rocking the leggings

Baby is now 9 1/2 inches and 1 1/2 pounds. Crazy fact - the baby's hair color has now been determined and if she takes after her Mama it will be jet black "Elvis hair"  (as my parents called it) when she is born - haha. 

Speaking of babies - yesterday my friend Katie and I went up to Santa Barbara for a posh baby shower for our sweet friend Nicole who is due in January!!  It was hosted by her mother-in-law who lives right on the ocean. It was a gorgeous spot and a wonderful shower.  Below are some pics

Perfect weather & backdrop 

Me, Mama Nicole & Katie

*I didn't get the memo on the purple ; ) 

How darn cute are these birdies??!

Sweet Mama-to-Be! 

What a fun day for Nicole and it made me super excited for my upcoming shower in KY! On this docket this week - CHRISTMAS: cards to go out, decorations to go up and more presents to be purchased. 

Fa la la la! xo fellow elves

24 Weeks!

Hiiiieeee! Holy moly - 24 weeks = 6 months or 1/2 a year!  I said this to Nick and a look of panic went across his face at the thought of how quickly this pregnancy is flying by and / or how "soon" our baby will in fact arrive. I know, I know we've got months to go and it will hit a point when the days drag on and the due date seems like it will never arrive but for now we are cruising in top speed it seems.

Is it just me or did I totally pop from last week to this week?  Granted this picture was taken yesterday so technically it's week 24 1/2 but still....

Baby Girl is almost 9 inches and weighs 13 oz. I did confirm this week in my books that we are out of fruit stage and just into your baby is a small doll phase.  Since it is dolls I guess my mind will picture everything from Barbie to American Girl doll between now and March.  : )

I'm off to work!  Happy Cyber Monday! xoxo

Turkey Time

Gobble, gobble. We just returned from a wonderful Thanksgiving in Minnesota. We were welcomed on Wednesday night by Nick's family to a great meal followed by several sweet gifts for Baby.  Thank you, thank you G-ma Millie, Aunt Julie & Mom Sass!

 It's Thanksgiving but yes the Christmas tree is up in MN - love.

On Thanksgiving Day, we watched the parade in the morning (always a favorite) and got to see our alma mater's, Miami University, marching band. They were the chosen band to lead in Santa - yay Redhawks!  By noon our crew of 22 had arrived and was ready to eat. 

 Grateful so many could be together 

On Friday, we left the crazy Black Friday sales for others and decided to go to the Christkindlemarket in downtown Excelsior. It is a cute, German-inspired market with booths, carolers, etc and then we spent a few hours doing a little Christmas shopping in the local shops. 

My sis-in-law & me

On Thursday night I was initiated into the annual "girls-only" Krumkake party. Krumkake is basically a delicious waffle cookie that you roll into a cone shape. It requires a special iron, some patience and if you are not pregnant I recommend a glass or two of wine. ; ) 

Ready to go!

Messy but so fun!

Fruits of our labor 

On Saturday morning we had to say our good-byes and fly back home!  Like I said, it was fun & memorable holiday - now it's time to focus on Advent Season / Christmas. 

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving too! xoxo

23 Weeks!

Hi, hi, hi - it's been a great week for us but a busy one!  This week we had an ultrasound on Tuesday and got to see our sweet, little girl. Most of the time, Nick and I are usually clueless at what we are looking at on the screen so we are thankful for a great technician each time. Baby is measuring right on schedule and the doctor was very happy with how great everything looked.

*Not our usual outdoor picture because the weather is cold & rainy today*

So here is the scoop: Baby Girl is no longer a fruit but, a small doll size. This week Baby has been more active and her movement makes me giggle which can cause for some awkward moments when I'm laughing by myself in public or  in my office.

I spent both Friday and Saturday (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) at the Junior League of Orange County's 36th Annual Christmas Company.  It is held at the OC Fairgrounds and has over 100 vendors / booths. The proceeds of the sales and events goes to support charities and programs such as Second Harvest Food Bank, Children's Hospital of Orange County, to name a few.

Friday felt a little like this when we opened our booth

I have worked in retail on and off in my life and I get a strange "high" off of the chaos, the shoppers and all the buzz. With that being said, no "high" can prevent one's feet & back hurting after 9+ hours of ringing and restocking for two days.

This is our cute logo from this year's Christmas Company.  And in addition to working for a great cause, I got a little Christmas shopping done.  A double win!  : ) 

This week it's THANKSGIVING - my favorite holiday.  We're off to Minne-ho-ho (aka Minnesota) to spend the holiday.  Baby is going to get her first taste of real cold weather.  This Mama has already got the Uggs out and every possible down item I own ready to go! 

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!  I am overwhelmed with how many things I am grateful for. Thank YOU for reading my little blog and following us along on this baby journey. 

Wishing you a wonderful and safe Turkey Day!  hugs, hugs, hugs. 

22 Weeks

Oh hi there! I'm happy to be back on track with our weekly posts and I FINALLY posted about the Fiesta for those of you have been waiting for it... (I won't name names - Kelly) ; )  Go check it out below if you haven't done so already.

So this week we were in San Clemente all week and not flying the friendly skies! Don't get me wrong, I love to travel but it is nice to sleep in your bed 6 nights in a row especially when you are "el preggito" & require the perfect combination of pillows to sleep well.  

Here I / we are! Baby Girl is 8 inches and weighs 12 oz.  Sorry they didn't have a fun fruit in the book to help with the visual this week so you'll have to do your best...

We did have one minor "bump" this week - literally. Nick and I were on our way to an appointment and were hit on the 5 Freeway. UGH!  Just a really bad rear-ending by a blonde gal in a lovely convertible Mercedes which is now probably totaled... It was enough of an incident for me to end up in the Labor & Delivery Unit at the hospital for extended monitoring (3+ hours).  It was quite a scare! Baby Girl is fine - THANK YOU GOD and Nick & I were just a shaken up and sore.

Pity Party for Peepers & Mini Peep in the Hospital 

But we are so grateful it was just a dinged bumper and nothing major.  Phew!  Here's hoping Week 23 is  uneventful!  

I have to end on a positive note(s) - it is only 12 days until my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. God is good and continues to watch over us & bless us.  

xoxo dear friends. 

Fiesta!

Without further audieu, the post I've been teasing for two weeks ~ Our Baby Fiesta / Gender Reveal!  We decided to do something fun & different for us, crazy parents-to-be (along with our friends and 
family) to find out the sex of Baby Sass all together.  The timing was perfect since Nick's birthday was the same week as our 20 week ultrasound. Next was figuring out how we would do the reveal. Turns out Hershey makes pink "It's a Girl!" and blue "It's a Boy!" kisses! So during one of my sleepless pregnancy nights I came up with the idea to fill a pinata with the kisses and bust it open during a Birthday / Baby Fiesta!   

Luckily I know a guy who could get his hands on these for me ; )   

We went to our 20 Week ultrasound and had our sweet ultrasound tech write down the sex of Baby Sass on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. She was happy to use lots of tape to ensure neither of us got tempted... From there we handed the envelope over to my co-worker, Emily & her 3-year-old Stuart to fill our Donkey Pinata! 

Our Official Donkey Filler

Next up was getting our house "fiesta ready" for our guests! 

 Donkey strung up & ready 

Table (pre-party)

Thanks Oriental Trading for the decor :) 

Next up the arrival of our friends & getting our families all set up on video Skype. Let me stop here and say how lucky we were to have wonderful friends present but our families share in the memory. Our families were online from: Kentucky, Indiana, Minnesota, even ALASKA!  Awesome.

Ok, the moment we've been anxiously waiting for ~ time to bust open that Donkey! 

Jenna was up first!

Next up Katie

Finally we brought in some man power - Jeremy

Boom!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Here is a video that Nick & I made using the footage. Disclaimer: this 1 minute video took us over 2 hours to edit & add music to in iMovie... So enjoy  : )  

And if you are still reading and want to see some post-reveal party pics, here you go:

Parents of a daughter &  over the moon! 

So there you have it pals - that's how we found out that Baby Sass is a GIR!. We would be thrilled either way but of course this Mama (one of 3 girls) is so happy to have a little, precious girl to start. 

xoxo

21 Weeks

Hello hello!  Week 21 was another busy one and at this point I think it will stay that way until 2012.  No complaints from me - it's all fun stuff so I don't mind and Baby Girl is a wonderful travel companion. 

On Friday morning we jetted off to Charleston, SC for my sister's Pomtastic Bombtastic Weekend (aka Bachelorette Party).  We flew from Orange County to Chicago to Charleston. We arrived late on Friday night and joined up with the other 7 girls for a weekend of fun! 

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Al-Pom, this is your weekend! 

Sissies @ our beach house

Pom & her Entourage

Here is my attempt at our "week of" picture - the Party Edition!

Hoptown Girls in SC! 

Good times were had by all! We ate delicious Southern food, shopped, shared a lot of laughs & celebrated the wonderful Al-Pom. Now counting down the days til Pom's BIG Day on New Years Eve. Eeeee so exciting!  And yes, Fiesta pictures and video are up next. Kiki (my loyal follower) - I promise.  : )

Have a great week friends! xoxo

20 Weeks!!

Hi friends.  WOW it's been quite the week here! On Tuesday we had our 20 week ultrasound & check-up appointment.  We told the ultrasound technician about our pinata / gender reveal fiesta so she was sure not to show us anything. It is always so fun to see our baby especially this time because we could see the heart chambers & all the other vital organs. Everything looked good and we had another stellar check-up with our doctor.

Funny that I am wearing blue and Nick is wearing pink.

-Morning of our ultrasound-

On Friday morning, I chopped off my hair!  With my ever-growing chest and now baby belly, it was time for something on my body to decrease. I love my shorter locks and it is for an awesome cause too! 

Mama's new do'

Donating to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths Program in honor of my Gammer

Friday was Nick's 29th birthday! I surprised him with my new do' when he got home from work. We celebrated his birthday with World Series baseball (yay Cardinals!), beer & pizza, per the birthday boy's request.  No beer for Peepers but I did have a mini Diet Coke.  

And Saturday was the day of our BIG REVEAL but that's going to require an entire post but, I think the picture below will tie you over in the mean time.  ; ) 

Tickled pink!

Yay!!  Seriously an entire post is necessary for the fiesta and finding out that our Mini Peeps is a GIRL!!  It's COMING SOON, very soon! 

xoxoxo