more baby shower

Sweet Nicole gave me a CD of photos from the baby shower right after my last post :), so I thought I'd share a few more...

Here she is! Love her!

Awesome favors from Shannon - and delicious too!

Clearly excited :)

Sweet Alex.

My momma

Bob's amazing mom and sister

Incredible hostesses - seriously, you want them to throw YOU a shower

Such great coworkers

It's a small world that allowed us to meet, but I'm so thankful for our friendship, Shannon!

28 week update

Danielle and I at my baby shower - 29 weeks exactly!

28 weeks with Baby Girl Somerville (Once again, I'm a little behind - I'm almost 30 weeks now.)

News: 28 week appointment was the gestational diabetes testing. The drink wasn't as bad as people told me it was. I  mean, I don't want to drink it again, but it just tasted like Hi-C - with a gross aftertaste. I am going with the no news is good news theory and assuming I passed b/c I haven't heard otherwise. ;) I've now started bi-monthly appointments - where is the time going???

Symptoms: A little more uncomfortable than I was a month ago. It's harder to find a comfy position to sleep in and I am ex.hausted all the time, but overall, I know I'm a lucky one.

Weight Gain: 19 pounds. And, if you'll remember, that's what I had gained at the 24 week mark, so I'm feeling pretty proud of that. I'm sure that will change before the next appointment though!

Cravings: Sweet things.

Aversions: Still just strong smells

Sleep: See symptoms. :) Not the best time in pregnancy to catch up on my sleep, but I'm trying!

I am loving: Decorating Claire's nursery!

I really miss: Sleeping on my belly. And a cold beer during a football game would be nice.

Movement: She is quite the little acrobat in there. Kicking, punching, rolling around - whatever she wants! And, I can already tell she's going to be a little Foodie like me b/c her favorite time is right after meal time when our bellies are full!

celebrating claire

This past weekend my sweet, sweet friends threw Claire and I a lovely baby shower. They really went above and beyond to make it a special day for me.

I'm stealing photos from Shannon and Nicole as I didn't take a single one!

There was lots of of yummy food - these girls can cook!

Games.

My wonderful Mom, sister, mother-in-law and sister-in-law came.

Hello, leg! Sorry about that!

 Claire (and I) received lots of wonderful presents!

And Shannon made these awesome favors for our friends to take home.

Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing

The cutest little pacifiers!

 Love, love, love these girls. Thank you so much Katie, Leigh, Amanda (and Alex!), Nicole, Shannon and Erin for making Claire and I feel so loved. I cannot wait to return the sentiment with each of you! :P

karma

Well, after I posted about hypothetically selling my dogs, karma came back to bite me in the butt. Or rather Grace...just making me feel like about the worst fur-momma ever.

We had a little fall this weekend. Two days later, I think she'll live but I wish you all could see the dramatics that have come out since then - her and Bob, not me!

for sale to a good home...

One, 10-year-old, fawn color boxer answering to the name of Grace who apparently likes to steal pizza dough off the kitchen counter, making it possible for one, 1-year old, black and tan Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, (sometimes) answering to Tanner, to render Momma and Daddy's dinner inedible.

Don't be fooled by those sweet faces.

Any takers? Best offer...

I feel the need to note here that these precious mischievous monsters are not actually for sale...however, if anyone would like to dog-sit for, oh, a week, I wouldn't turn you down!

in the kitchen

Since someone I have to help this baby girl grow, I've been inspired to try a lot of new recipes lately! Or, well, inspired to ask Bob to try a lot of new recipes lately. Hey, a girl's tired at the end of the day!

In the interest of full disclosure, this is how the conversation in my house goes during dinner time these days:

Val: Did you like that recipe? Should we keep it?
Bob: Yum! Yes!
Val: Guess where I found it? You'll never guess...
Together: PINTEREST!

Because apparently the only things I bake, sew, cook or make these days are found on Pinterest. Am I getting predictable?

Ok, back to the point of the post. Here's a few good things that have come out of my kitchen lately...

I can't be bothered to blog take actual pictures of my food these days - sorry, Bob, I know that's why you bought me that expensive camera! - so I'll just have to borrow some off the good old Internet.

Chicken Broccoli Bake - made with a homemade version of canned cream of whatever soup. Yum.

Spicy Chicken and Pepper Jack Pizza - made on Publix pizza dough, of course

.

Slow Cooker French Dip sandwiches

And...my personal favorite...

Cream Cheese Rippled Pumpkin Bread - amazing!