15 Weeks

The belly is growing!!!!

Although it's still not super-obvious that I'm preggo, I feel like it is - and I definitely feel more pregnant, if that makes any sense. It is beginning to be more uncomfortable when I sleep, and I'm thinking one of those pregnancy pillows is going to be necessary before long.

For all you moms out there, what type of pillow (if any) did you use to help you find a comfortable sleeping position throughout your pregnancy? Do you have any tips or tricks you'd like to share? This mama would love to hear 'em! ;)

Christmas Date

On Saturday night, Clay and I went on a Christmas date. Both of us had SUCH crazy weeks that it was a much-deserved treat to spend some time with just us two. :)

We started off with one-hour massages at Massage Envy.

I got a prenatal massage for the first time, and although it was a little strange to lay on my side instead of my stomach, it was absolute heaven! This changing body is developing quite a few new aches and a massage was just what I needed. Clay has been working hard too, so a little relaxation was overdue for him as well.

Once we were nice and relaxed, we headed over to Fireside Pies 

in the new Seventh Street development for some dinner. 

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It was quite crowded when we arrived, but they had space available at the bar so we took it. That meant we had a great vantage point of the chefs preparing our food and pulling pizzas from the wood-fired oven - so fun!

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We started off with the modern caesar salad, served family-style.

It was super-yummy and just what my belly was craving!

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Then we finished up with the Iowa Prosciutto Pizza with arugula. (Sorry, I couldn't find a picture.) It was also scrumptious! The crust was nice and thin, a perfect combination of crispy and chewy with some nice air bubbles around the edges. It reminded me of the pizza in Italy!

After that, we made a quick stop by Starbucks to get some hot chocolate

before heading over to the Chesapeake building to admire/ photograph the lights. 

And apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea; there were so many people out!

It was quite a challenge to get a photo without people - or cars, though we managed to get a few good ones...

 

It was such a wonderful evening to enjoy the festivity of the holiday season

and spend some time together just the two of us - although we're looking forward

to the day when we can share hot cocoa and Christmas lights with Baby Rich! :D

Signs of Progress

Here's a little update on my 28 Before 28:

1. Take a cooking class at the Fort Worth Culinary Institute Central Market.

I looked into taking classes at the Culinary Institute and realized there really isn't an option to take just one class. They offer semester-long classes for people who are super-serious about cooking. And who apparently are loaded. To take a basic pastry class costs over $2500! And that's not including the chef's jacket, hat, textbooks, and all the other things you'll need to purchase. So let's just say I'll be sticking with my good 'ole Central Market classes! I know my friend Katie is always game to join me for those. :)

8. Make it through a chataranga in yoga without cheating. :D

Does a modified chataranga count? I'm definitely getting better at the version with my knees down (which is technically the only way they do it in prenatal yoga).

10. Floss. Everyday.

I went for my routine cleaning right after Clay and I discovered we were expecting. The dentist warned me about pregnancy gingivitis, which I do not want. That little extra incentive is enough to keep me flossing every night before bed! (So far, anyway.)

12. Host a craft day with my cousin Laura and sister-in-law Tara.

Although I technically didn't host it, the three of us got some good craft time in over Thanksgiving. We helped Laura get ready for a fair she was participating in to raise money for the Village of Hope. You can read more about Laura's adventures in Ghana here. So...a craft day for 2011 isn't exactly on the books yet, but I'm working on it, k?

14. Make photo books/ scrapbooks for our vacations.

So far I have gone through pictures for each of our trips and selected those I want to include in our photo books. They are ready to be uploaded to Picaboo and arranged into albums! It's just that the arranging is the most time-consuming part...

16. Try resale shopping more often.

I have signed up to participate (shop) the next Just Between Friends sale in March and I am SO excited!

18. Read 28 (or more!) new books.

So far I've read...

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan - I wanted to read this book based on a recommendation by a friend without really knowing the storyline. I was expecting it to be light and funny, but it was actually a bittersweet memoir about Kelly's battle with cancer and her father's battle at the same time. It was extremely well-written and I just flew through it in a couple of days! I definitely look forward to reading more of her work.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin - This was very interesting concept for a book, one of those "why didn't I think of that?" kind of thing. The author detailed her quest for a happier life and her monthly goals for achieving this state of bliss. While I have some issue with the concept of happiness as the ideal versus joy, there were certainly a lot of great tips to take away from this book.

Beside Every Great Dad by Nancy Swihart and Ken Canfield - This was highly recommended to me by my sister-in-law. She took a Ministry to Fathers course at ACU (which I wish I had known about!), and this was one of the texts they used. Seeing as our parenthood is impending, I thought I would get a little insight as to what I can do to encourage Clay as a dad. There is so much information in each chapter, I think I'm going to have to re-read it all several times to make sure it soaks in!

Next up: The Book Thief by Marcus Zusac and Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi.

28. Keep up with (and document) all these goals!

I think so far I'm doing pretty well. Not all my posts will include multiple items from my list, maybe just one with some pictures. But it's not a bad start, eh?

Time Flies When You're Making a Baby

Yesterday marks 14 weeks this little baby has been cookin' in my oven. :)

Here are a few belly pics from weeks 12, 13 and 14:



As you can see, our little bun is growing and I'm starting to show a bit. :D

I've been reading the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy, which is chock-full of great information for a first-timer like myself. However, it also refers to your growing midsection as a "small potbelly" at this stage...terminology which I'm not so sure about. Although if I'm going to have a potbelly, this is the best kind! Let's just say the Bella Band is my new best friend.

Earlier this week I had a doctor's appointment and everything looks good. They even mentioned the upcoming 20-week appointment which totally freaked me out. Am I really this far along in my pregnancy already?!
 
But you know what they say: Time flies when you're having fun - or making a baby. ;D

The Cat's Out of The Bag

It's no secret anymore - Clay and I are expecting

a little addition to join the party in June 2011!

We have been trying to keep the pregnancy a secret for over two months, and it was absolutely excrutiating not to tell at times. There have been multiple instances where one of us (usually me) almost caved in or where someone made a comment that threw us off guard. But for the most part we feel like we were pretty good at hiding it!

Clay and I wanted to tell our families after we had been to the doctor for the first time, but we also wanted to make sure it was a HUGE surprise to everyone. (Most people are expecting us to announce it any day. We can tell by your looks. ;)) We knew that if we did anything out the ordinary, it would be a dead giveaway. So we thought and thought about how to break the news...

Since a quick trip to Florida to tell my parents was out of the question, we decided the next best thing was video chatting. I sent a little package to my mom and dad with a webcam, a picture of us, a few other things (to throw them off our trail ;)), and an envelope labeled "Do not open until instructed." So for our inaugural webchat, we asked them to open the envelope and read each of the cards out loud. Here's what they said...

Postage to send this package: $4
Belated birthday CD $11
Webcam: $22
Realizing there are actually three people in this photo: pricless

My parents were SO excited! They had already been talking about how they would love to take grandkids camping, fishing and hunting one day. Looks like that day is coming a little sooner than they thought. :D

We had planned to go to Abilene to spend Thanksgiving with Clay's family. It was a little tricky figuring out how to tell Clay's immediate family without disrupting the traditional flow of events, but eventually we decided on creating a little word puzzle. Clay was the brains behind this operation and came up with a pretty fancy word scramble. So on Wednesday night after dinner as we were all gathered around the kitchen table, we pulled out a "Thanksgiving puzzle" for everyone to solve...

The answer to the riddle "Everyone was confused by the new names" was, of course, "Mom and Dad"!

Oh, what fun to see the reactions. :)

We're especially excited as our Christmas cards go out this week
with a special message from my growing belly. (Thanks, Ashley, for the super-cute cards!)

More and more people will be discovering that the cat's out of the bag! :D