Turtles

After I posted about my hostess gifts I had several people ask me for the recipe for the turtles.

They are REALLY yummy so I wouldn't dream of keeping the recipe from you. It actually came from my mom's friend Dianne. She and my mom have made lots of these for different occassions.

Turtles

1 bag caramels

1 stick butter

3 cups pecans, chopped

1 large Hershey bar (the big ones not the normal candy bar size)

1/4 stick paraffin

Melt butter, add caramels and melt. Stir in pecans. Drop by teaspoon on waxed paper. Cool. Melt Hershey bar and parraffin on top of stove or in microwave. Dip candy into chocolate. Cool.

These are great made ahead of time and then frozen. I hope you enjoy!

37 Weeks

This past Saturday I made it to 37 weeks. That's pretty important since that means Sadie is now full term. What a relief.

All is well here. Nothing has really changed except it's just getting harder and harder to do things. The swelling is still bad at times and the carpal tunnel is awful. Walking takes a lot of effort and although I move rather slowly it feels like I'm sprinting. I'm just very thankful to be so close. I'm ready for my baby girl to be here.

I had my weekly appointment today. I'm only dilated to a finger tip. That's good though because I still have several things to do, like pack a hospital bag, before she arrives. I'm trying to get the most important things done first.

First up is getting mine and Sadie's closed washed and ready to go for the hospital. Next is learning how to work my new camera. Third is getting the carseats installed properly. Fourth is making bows to match her outfits. I guess everything else will either get finished or it won't. :)

I can't believe that we are approximately 19 days away from seeing Sadie. I pray she arrives safely and that everything goes wonderfully well! If you don't mind please pray that for her too!

Losing It

From the moment I even thought we MIGHT be pregnant I've thought about what I was going to do to get the weight off. I just knew I'd gain quite a bit of weight and water weight because it's just what I do. :) Now the bigger I get the more ready I am to get this weight off. It's just miserable. I lost some weight before getting pregnant by using the Weight Watcher point system. My friend Jenny and I did it together without going to meetings. It really worked and I really liked the freedom of feeling like I wasn't on a diet. I just felt I was making better choices.

I've jokingly said that I was going to take Sadie to her first Weight Watcher meeting the week she's born. Obviously I'm not doing that but I am starting the program. I think I'm just going to do it online/on my own at first. I've had success like that before. I just know if I wait, even a little while, to start losing it will be that much harder. I'm glad Weight Watchers has a plan for breast feeding moms. I want to be able to breast feed and I don't want to do anything to mess that up. I also don't want to keep this extra weight around any longer than I have to. I'm going to attempt the new point program and see how it goes. I'm a calorie counter by nature so I'm not sure how well this new system and I will get along. But since fruit is "free" I figure it's worth a try.

If any of you have good "after pregnancy weight loss" tips please let me know. I'm hoping this time I can lose the baby weight and the other 20 pounds I needed to lose. Lord, help me!

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On It's Way

Can you believe that Easter is almost a month away? The thing that makes that so crazy is Sadie's due date is a week BEFORE Easter. Yikes. It's hard to believe it is just about that time. I'm really hoping and praying she makes her debut before Easter. First of all because I don't want to be that past due (especially since she's going to be a big baby) but also because I have a few Easter items for her.

I posted this on Facebook and Twitter yesterday but this is her Easter basket. I made the liner and talked my dad into spray painting the basket. I think it turned out really cute. It's not perfect and I'm glad you can't see up close but it will be just fine. Next time I will make the liner a little smaller because it's kind of bulky inside. I'm pretty sure when it is full of goodies no one will know. Speaking of goodies Josh and I bought her this a long time ago for her basket. It was the first thing (other than an "S" ornament) we bought her.

I have always loved frogs and I so I wanted her to have a few in her nursery. Other than this I'll probably just put a car seat toy in her basket and maybe some diapers and wipes. If she hasn't arrived by Easter I'm filling her basket with chocolate...for me.

Sadie has one other item for Easter that I hope she gets to wear.

This is her Easter outfit this year. Since she'll be too little to go to church so I decided just to get her some bunny ears. I hope it fits her head. :)

New for the Nursery

This week a couple of new things for the nursery arrived. Wednesday the name plaque that Brook did for me came in. You need to go here to check out all of her neat things. I LOVE how this turned out. It's made with the fabric from Sadie's bedding. I'm not sure where in the nursery it is going to go but it WILL go somewhere.

And yesterday my dad went to pick up the chair for the nursery. I wasn't sure how it would turn out because I ordered it based on a tiny swatch of fabric.

Here's Josh making sure everything is safe and secure.

And here is the chair. I LOVE it. It turned out just like I hoped it would. I can't wait to rock her in it. It also reclines for those LONG sleepless nights.

Here's a visual of what the name plaque looks like with it. I think it will be great. I can't wait to get settled and get her nursery all set up. I should probably do the finishing touches on the bedding, huh?

More Showers

We had the last two showers for Sadie (before she arrives...she has a couple of events to attend once she's here, ha) this past week. On Saturday Josh and I headed to his grandparent's house so his family could give us a shower. I was told that for Saturday only Sadie's name would have 2 "d's" in it. :)

I didn't get a picture of everyone but I managed to snap a few pictures. Here's Amy, Whitman or "Whippin" as his brother calls him, Sara, Ronette, and Emersyn.

Ashley and Darlene

And here's Josh about to jump up on the hay.

He nailed it.

Here he is helping out Camden and Till.

I know I took the most random pictures and they aren't really shower related but oh well. We had a great time. We were blessed with some really neat things.

Josh and Emersyn. I think he's really excited about having a girl.

*****

My last shower was a work. It was a "surprise" shower that I found out about pretty much from the beginning.

Here's Katie and Debbie telling me I'm needed in the back. Trying to be sneaky.

This is what I found when I went back there. The pictures don't do it justice. It was the cutest shower and everything was PINK. I loved it.

Homemade strawberry cake, blue bell ice cream, and strawberries. Please and Thank you!

The punch was very delicious.

The invitation and the sweet flowers.

A close up of the strawberries.

Katie made two extra cakes in case we ran out. Luckily we didn't so I was able to take one home. Mercy.

The chair for me to sit in.

Here's a lot of the group I work with. There are a few that either came later, weren't at work that day, or were sick.

Minnie even put on her pink scarf to be festive.

Jeff, one of only 3 guys in my office, came to get some food. He was nice enough to answer the phones so the ladies could party.

And once again I was blown away by the generosity of everyone. I've said this a bunch and I'll say it again, we are so thankful for all the wonderful gifts. We appreciate everything so much and will put it all to good use.

Pack Your Bags

Ok moms, I need your help. I'm 4 weeks and 4 days away from my due date and I need to know what to pack in my hospital bag.

1. What do I need for myself?
2. What do I need for Sadie?
3. Anything special I should have for Josh?

Ready. Set. Go.

35 Weeks

How can my stomach get any bigger???? This picture doesn't even do it justice.

I can't believe I am 35 weeks today. Only 5 weeks to go although I'm hoping for more like 4. Wishful thinking, I know!

Right now I'm just feeling really big, probably because I am. The swelling is about the same but it's not worse. The carpal tunnel is worse but I knew that would happen. The worst problem now is the pain and pressure down low. I walk like a penguin.

She still moves a lot but she also has her lazy days. At the doctor this week she made some big movements and impressed the doctor. She's already showing off. This could be a bad sign.

I've been eating a LOT of cereal lately. That's unusual for me. Cereal is not my food of choice but now I can't get enough of it. I especially like it with a banana. Yum. Other than that I'm not really eating out of the ordinary. I've craved fried pickles but I've always loved those so it's no surprise there. I'm still attempting a lower sodium diet but it's hard.

Oh the nausea has returned. Isn't that fun?? It's every morning and some at night.

On a fun note, as you know, we've had a blast with all of Sadie's showers and gifts. We have two more to go before she gets here and I'm so excited! We are very thankful!

Oh yeah, in other big news, her bedding is basically finished. Praise the Lord!! I will share pictures soon.

Well I guess that's enough updating for now. Have a great Saturday.

Baby Luke

Baby Luke Bunch (Sadie's boyfriend) was born Wednesday, March 9th at 10:45 am (I think). He weighed 8 pounds and 13 ounces. He had to spend the afternoon and evening in the NICU but now he is out and in a regular nursery.

I love this picture, other than the fact it looks like the nurse is choking him. He just looks so cute "sitting up".

Yesterday after work Josh and I went to the hospital to see the little guy. He is so sweet and looks so much like his big brother Ben. Luke's hair isn't red like Ben's and there isn't as much but who knows if that will change. I told him that I must really love him to be willing to get my picture taken with him. Luckily he's cute enough for the both of us.

He just slept and made the sweetest noises and facial expressions. I loved every minute of it. It was surreal being there because the next time we're there it will be me having a baby. YIKES. Now that's crazy.

And just for fun this is me holding Ben, Luke's big brother, in March of 2008. I'm a lot thinner and I have braces. Ha.

Hostess Gifts

When it came time to decide on gifts for my hostesses I had NO CLUE what to do. I thought I had great hostesses gifts for my wedding (monogrammed umbrellas....at the time they weren't popular yet) so I had a lot to live up to. I asked around and a lot of people suggested some good things. So here's what I came up with.

I painted sacks for the showers with an "S" for Sadie. :) In case you didn't know what it was for. And since her bedding is houndstooth I decided to use it in the wrapping. For my first shower I gave those hostesses two things.

Personalized stationary and enclosure cards that my friend Niki made.

I think they turned out so cute!

They also got a box of homemade turtles (thanks, mom!) with Sadie's monogram. They looked much cuter in person.

For my church shower I also painted sacks but I did white instead of green to change it up a bit.

They also got two things.

Scentsy room sprays. My friend Megan sells it so if you need anything check her out. She also JUST HAD SWEET ELI YESTERDAY so you should check out her blog. I'm so happy he is here. I've been waiting for him to get here for a long time. He's precious. Anyway, back to the hostess gifts...the room sprays smelled so good. Megan let me check out all of her scents and I chose 4, Spicy Grapefruit, Prima Cotton, Black Raspberry Vanilla (or something like that) and Coconut Lemongrass. I love them all.

They also got a box of turtles.

Thanks again to everyone for the wonderful showers!! I hope you liked your gifts. :)

Sadie's Church Shower

Sunday after church, before Sadie's shower, I was so thankful to be able to meet one of my favorite friends for lunch. Laurie was in town so we met up at Pei Wei. I just love Laurie. She's one of a kind. Believe me, she is. She is one of the funniest friends I have but she's also so loyal and consistent. It made my day to be able to see her for a little while. I can't WAIT for her to meet Sadie. In fact, when I called her the night I got the "yes" test she said, " I want a framed picture of me holding Baby Bazyk in one arm and Baby Stamps in the other arm." She's definitely excited about the new babies especially since they are girls!

After lunch with Laurie I went back to the church to get ready for Sadie's church shower. Everything was so nice and yummy.

Yes I wore this pink sweater to my last shower and after looking at pictures I'm not sure. I would have been better in all black. I think it makes my face look bigger. Ha. Just kidding. My face just is big.

I made Josh come to the shower with me so he could help. Plus since he is on staff at our church I knew a lot of the people buying us gifts wanted to celebrate with him as well. Here he is watching all the ladies work and talk. He did get his very own gift so I think that helped the situation. It is actually Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson. I'm so glad he got that book. I've heard it is great!

The hostesses

Pam, Shannon, Me&Sadie, Teresa, Linda, and Martha (who teaches me how to sew)

Hard at work.

Shannon did a great job with the fruit. And you can't see the strawberries but they were HUGE and ripe and delicious.

Martha made her punch because I requested it. It is soooooooooo good.

Here is a shot of some of the guests early on. I wasn't able to take more pictures as other people arrived because I was busy opening presents.

Here's another shot of some of our friends. I am so thankful for everyone who came to the shower to celebrate Sadie. It was a lot of fun. Josh and I were blown away by the generosity of everyone. Everything we received was so practical. We got LOTS of diapers, night gowns, receiving blankets, onesies, etc. We got our high chair, bumbo, bath tub, gift cards, cash and so many other great things. We are beyond blessed. Here are some pictures of what she got. One of these gifts is from the last shower but the rest are from this shower. And just so you know this is my parent's dining room. And yes, that is Sadie's crib next to the dining room table. They are great to let me junk up their home.

You can't see it here but the dining room table has other gifts on it as well. They are everywhere.

See? I told you we were blessed. Thank you again and again to everyone!

I couldn't end this post without showing you one of my favorite gifts from my shower. As mentioned before my sewing teacher Martha helped hostess. To be honest I was really excited to see what she got for Sadie because I knew it would be something she made. I know how great she is and knew anything she made would be wonderful. Wonderful indeed.

A pink smocked dress. Oh my.

I love it and can't wait for her to wear it. Sadie has gotten some of the sweetest dresses and I'm so excited.