Dancing Cat?

We had our friend and neighbor over to play Dance Dance Revolution - and were so surprised to find Pandora fascinated!  She kept wanting to get onto the playing mat and we were surprised that she was heavy enough to change the song selections.  She was especially interested when Chris was playing!

"No Dad, its my turn, you played long enough!"

Eventually she managed to stay on a corner, but not by choice!

Pregnancy's Dirty Little Secrets: Part 3

Welcome to part three of the many things I wish I'd known to expect about pregnancy!  In case you are new, please read the disclaimer my first secrets post so you are prepared for what you are getting yourself in for.  In short, these are some of the things I wish I'd known were coming as a part of pregnancy, as such you will probably know a few lot more details about my pregnancy than you were prepared for! 


1.) I'll huff and I'll puff... and I'll huff...
Because your new little person needs lots of space to grow he really decreases the amount of space available for the rest of your organs, including your lungs!  Fortunately, your body is much more efficient at capturing oxygen when you are pregnant so this crowding doesn't hurt baby's development - but it can surprise Momma when the flight of stairs that didn't used to wind you causes you to huff and puff!


2.) 'Oh my grandmother, how hairy you are!'
Pregnancy hormones strike again!  Just to be sure your body has all the help it can get to keep its temperature regulated it makes some extra fuzz!  Most of us have a little body hair all over our body but when you are pregnant it becomes much more noticeable and can even become darker!  Again, this is something that will pass once the pregnancy is over, but it can be awkward while you are still pregnant!


3.) Interesting appitite
I really expected to be hungry all the time while I was pregnant, but fortunately that hasn't been the case.  I do have days where I can't seem to get enough to eat, but usually regular meals satisfy me.  I was surprised to learn that this is because your body is much more efficient at using food while you are pregnant!  As Eb has gotten bigger however, it is harder and harder to feel satisfied at one meal because Eb is taking up so much room there isn't much left for your stomach.


4.) Filling up on needed nutrients
In order for the baby to get all the nutrients he needs, I need to eat them first!  This doesn't sound like it should be a problem at first until you start listing out all the things included. You need 80 grams of protein, 1000 mg of calcium, folic acid, at least 64 ounces of water (preferably much more than that), 100% of your pre-pregnancy fiber, and plenty of iron in addition to your healthy diet choices before you became pregnant.  These don't sound so bad, but 80 grams is a lot of protein!  Also, it can get difficult just to fit all the things in you need to eat as you get further along and baby is crowding your stomach.


Tune in soon for more unexpected pregnancy side effects!

Christmas Past

Do you have one of those Christmases where you can look back and appreciate how over the top your parents went for you for Christmas?  I'm not sure how old I was during this particular Christmas, but apparently I wanted a my size car - not just any car, a pink, convertible Barbie car! We still lived at the Rucker house so I know I was under seven years old.  When I came out into the living room I was astounded in every way a 5-6 year could be to find the exact car I wanted sitting in the living room!  We couldn't drive it at the house because of the snow, but we went to Granddaddy's Florida house just a couple short weeks later and got to drive it all around the neighborhood.  I was so thrilled!

Looking back I can see how crazy it was for my Mom and Dad to invest in this for me, but they knew how happy it would make me and decided it was worth it.  While I don't think we will ever be able to get Eb anything this 'over-the-top', I do look forward to seeing his delight  during the Christmas season.

How about you?  Do you remember and 'over-the-top' Christmas from your Mom and Dad?

Kitty Surprises...

When walking through the bedroom the other day I was surprised to see the covers move!

On closer inspection I discovered Pandora!  She had crawled up under the quilt by herself!  It had been 'cold' for Florida for the few days before and Chris and I were keeping the house cooler than usual - all we could figure was she was tired of being chilly and wanted to get warm under the covers!

Christmas is Sweet!

I love sweets and Christmas is a wonderful excuse to makes lots of them as we celebrate! You already saw our Christmas cookies, in addition to those we've made No-Bake's, Rice Crispy Treats, Seven Layer Bars (Magic Bars to some of you) and Chris' favorite - Buckeyes!  I have a super simple recipe for these that anyone can do which I would like to share with you!

Super Simple Buckeyes
1 pkg Peanut butter chips
1 Carton vanilla frosting
Dipping chocolate (I find the chocolate almond bark to be cheapest it works great!)

That's it!  Melt the chips really slowly over low heat, once melted remove from heat and add vanilla frosting.  Blend thoroughly and cool in the fridge for about an hour stirring occasionally.  Once cooled shape into one inch balls (cooling again is optional at this point but it can help when you dip them in the chocolate).  Melt the dipping chocolate (if microwaving only cook for 10-15 seconds at a time or you may scorch the chocolate), use a toothpick to dip the ball of peanut butter into the chocolate leaving a circle on top uncovered so they look like real buckeyes, put on wax paper and back into the fridge to cool completely.  Enjoy!

A Monumental Christmas

After Christmas Eve service at church.

This is Chris and my 5th Christmas together - wow sorry, seeing that in text just blew me away!  We have celebrated Christ's birth as a married couple Five times!  However it is a Christmas on the verge of change.  This is our first - and last - Christmas with just the two of us.  Every year before now we have made the trip North to visit lots of family on both sides and to ultimately spend Christmas day with my immediate family.  With Eb so close (we are 38 weeks now!) we didn't feel like it was safe to make such a big trip with the risk of him arriving early.  Also with Eb so close our families wanted to wait to come and visit until after he is born.  So that means Chris and I are having our first Christmas with just the two of us.

So what are we going to do with this once in a lifetime Christmas?  Well we have been discussing traditions we want to implement in our little family for a while and thought this would be the perfect year to start some!  While we haven't quite settled the 'Santa Debate' (more to come on this later!) we do know that we want to focus ourselves and our children on why we celebrate Christmas in the first place - the birth of our savior Jesus!  We have lots of big goals in mind, one I'm really excited about but didn't have time to start this year is a Jesse Tree.  I just learned about this option a few weeks ago and love it!  It helps the family to focus on the reason for Christmas by recounting the story of Christ - starting all the way back in Genesis!  Every day in December you read a passage that helps recount why Christ came and the saga of Israel through history as they anticipated the Messiah's arrival, after reading the passage you hang an ornament representing the passage on the tree - and if you have time and eager little ones you can make new ornaments every now and then too.  The tree itself is also a representation of Christ because it is supposed to look like a cut off stump with a new shoot growing from it - like the sprout of Christ from the stump of Jesse (David's family line).  As I said, we didn't get to start this one yet, but I'm excited to lay it out next year.


This year we did start some smaller traditions.  We decided we want to go to Christmas Eve service every year is the church we attend offers it - and the one we are at does!  It was a sweet surprise to find they do a candle light service, I haven't been able to attend a service like that since high school!  We decided our 'traditional meal' will be a ham and are tackling preparing one on our own today!  Sweets are a must and we started making some great ones earlier this week and decided whether we do Santa or not we are definitely still baking/decorating cookies on Christmas Eve.  To help us focus on Jesus' birth we started singing Christmas hymns last Monday and tried to sing one a day all week leading to Christmas.  Of course decorations are part of what make Christmas so festive and exciting for me, and while we tried to stay small since we have a new little person on the way decorating with Chris was still very precious for me this year.  Because we don't have much room we decided to decorate a (fresh) Christmas wreath instead of a tree (I love the smell of fresh cut conifers and Chris found us a wreath at a bargain price!).  Finally, it's not Christmas without the nativity.  My mother in law got us a huge beautiful nativity for our first Christmas present as a married couple.  It is the full (and I mean FULL) Willow Tree set and I adore it!  We never would have been able to afford this set on our own, but if you know me it is exactly the kind of set I would want! While I didn't feel like I could get the whole set out this year, pulling out the basic nativity always brings joy to my heart!


Here are a few pictures of our Florida Christmas.  What made your Christmas special this year?  Do you have any special traditions?

NOM!

Nom, nom, nom!!!

Happy 38 Weeks Ebenezer!

Ebenezer reached 38 weeks on Christmas Eve!  We are so thankful that his pregnancy has gone so smoothly and he is healthy as far as we can tell!  Only two weeks left until his due date!

It's Raining Baby Gifts!

In November we were blessed with three showers right around my birthday!  It was so fun to see God provide for our needs and to see all the tiny baby things pile up!  I had a shower at my Mom's, my in-laws and our church threw us one as well!  It was AMAZING to catch up with so many wonderful ladies - many of whom I hadn't seen in months!  I have the most pictures from our church shower, but here are a few from my Mom's!

The AMAZING spread of food!

The baby pumpkin candles holders my sis carved out!

And yes, my plate!

Sadly, many of my pictures from this shower were left in Indiana, maybe someday I will be able to give you a more comprehensive view of how awesome it was!

We had a great shower in Louisville with Chris' family, but again, no pictures!

Back in Florida the sweet ladies in our church put together a wonderful shower for us.  After opening all of our wonderful gifts they prayed for us, my delivery and Eb's future.  It was a sweet, sweet time.  And I DO have some great pictures from that event!  They went all out to have a farm theme for my future agriculturist!

One of the ladies embroidered these, and I got to take them home!

The Chicken was probably my favorite!

The inspiration for Eb's name!

One of the ladies wrote a song just for us!

So many precious ladies!

 

As a special surprise, Chris came and said a few words about why he thinks I'm going to be a good Mom!  It was so special!

 

Above and below are some of my "partners in pregnancy" from our church!  The lady with butterflies on her shirt just had a precious little girl recently!  Little did we know at the time we were lined up boy-boy-girl-girl at the time of this photo!

The welcome guests received to our shower!

 I cannot express how blessed we were by all the love showered on us during these weeks.  It is one of the many ways God has expressed His tangible provision for us!

Its Good to be Negative!

There is a bacteria that almost all women carry, it isn't always active, but when it is it can mean serious problems if passed to a newborn.  It is Group B Streptococcus and pretty much all pregnant women are now screened for it.  If it is active in your system when you give birth there is a chance you can pass it to your baby during delivery - which could cause all kinds of complications including pneumonia.  To avoid these complications, if you are an active carrier, the doctors want you to come into the hospital sooner than they usually would so they have enough time to give you at least two rounds of antibiotics before the baby is born, which takes about four hours.  In case you are one of the lucky few who delivery quickly, this means they want you to come in as soon as your water breaks... and you could be stuck in the hospital a LONG time if you aren't one of the folks who delivers quickly.  I really want to labor as long as I can at home.  I am comfortable here, I feel safe, there are no needles or monitors to put up with, I have lots of options for distracting myself and I can eat!  So needless to say I was dreading the test to determine if I was positive or negative for Group B Strep.  The good news.... I'm NEGATIVE!!!  I am so so so so soooo thankful!  I may have to go in early for other reasons, but at least this won't be one of them!  Praise God for His provision even in the 'little' details!

Gaming guidence

As I was working on one of my papers earlier this year, Chris came and sat next to me while he played.  Kitty saw a perfect opportunity to snuggle with both of us at the same time!  In the process she gave Chris some pointers.

Temporary Bling

One of the many things that has changed during my pregnancy is my ring size.  As my body started accumulating more blood and water late in my second trimester my wedding rings began to get tighter and tighter.  Finally about six months they hit the point that it was uncomfortable to keep them on all day, especially at the end of the day when my hands were the most swollen.  I went without them for a few weeks but just felt really naked - plus the funny stares I got just from being pregnant on a college campus seemed to pick up once I wasn't wearing them.  So Chris helped me pick out a new one!

 No, no, its not real, but 14 dollars of glass is a marvelous stand in until my real bling fits again!

Pregnancy's Dirty Little Secrets: Part 2

Welcome to part two of the many things I wish I'd known to expect about pregnancy!  In case you missed it please see the disclaimer in Part 1 before reading ahead, because you will probably learn a little lot more than you ever wanted to know about me and I want you to be prepared!

1.) Acne may return with a vengeance...
      Most of us were fortunate to leave our serious acne behind with high school.  But when you get pregnant it can come back!  The return of acne in pregnancy is for many of the same reasons it reared it speckled-y head in the first place - hormones!  As mentioned earlier, your body is dealing with a lot of different (and powerful) hormones that help your body handle the pregnancy, but also bring some undesirable side effects.  This isn't a problem for everyone, but I have noticed an increase in skin issues with this pregnancy, so just FYI, it could happen to you too!

2.) You might find yourself suddenly more voluptuous!
      In response to those wonderful pregnancy hormones, your mammary glands start getting ready for their created job - feeding babies!  In the process they get bigger... and bigger!  This growth can also be accompanied by some twinges and pains in your breast tissue, but apparently this is just part of that tissue changing and getting ready for their new job.  While this is great for your self-image (and can be really fun for your husband), it can be frustrating for your wardrobe.  Be sure that you keep bras your size(s) on hand, but don't get too many because you may change again in the process of your pregnancy, and you will definitely change again once the new bundle is born!

3.) Leaking, leaking, here, there and everywhere!
      While many of these are awkward, this one is more so for me, just letting you know!  Along about month six I found my body getting ready in a different way to feed our new baby, it started making a little colostrum - which meant I started leaking!  This was easy enough to prevent, nursing pads don't cost very much, but it was still a surprise.  Additionally, your body starts making a discharge to keep your cervix clean - good for baby and Mom's health - not good for underpants. Again easy enough fix, just unexpected...  Finally, in the vein of leaking, you might find yourself a little sweatier than normal too!  With all that extra water you've been drinking and blood you've been making, you have more water to get rid of and more of your body to regulate temperature for, thus more perspiration!

4.) Does anyone else feel like a pincushion?
      So its not really been that bad - but depending on how many tests you plan to, or need to, run there is a point in time where you kind of feel like a pincushion! Between that first draw to check blood type, iron levels and such, to the second glucose tolerance test, to the finger prick to make sure iron is staying where it should one can start to understand what being around a porcupine might be like!

5.) 'Pregnancy Brain' is REAL!!!
       I had heard a lot of conflicting reports on this subject with some doctors saying the absent mindedness experienced during pregnancy was just due to the new experience of being pregnant and the new concerns and thoughts that brings.  I am here to say they were WRONG! I regularly find myself wondering why I'm in a particular room, forgetting keys and losing my train of thought while still talking!  Fortunately I haven't found my mail in the fridge yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if I did!  I read an article that made me feel a little better though.  According to the authors, women's brains are 4% smaller while they are pregnant!  not because they lost brain mass but because the extra blood volume in their  system puts more pressure on the brain!  So my absentmindedness is medically justified!

I hope this installment was informative for you!  Tune in soon for more unexpected pregnancy side-effects!

Lab Rats...

During my whole project Chris has been of invaluable help to me.  During the last two weeks his help in the lab has prevented me from despairing at the seemingly unending list of work!  He has kept me on track and provided lots of entertainment!

Last week we were working on blending all of my frozen peach fruit samples and getting them ready for Brix, pH TA analysis.  Essentially last week we were making peach smoothies, separating off the juice from the 'pulp' and freezing the juice.  This week we are taking that frozen juice and testing it with instruments to get an 'objective' understanding of the aspects of its flavor.  pH gives us the acidity, Brix an approximation of the sweetness and TA a slightly different understanding of the acidity.  This basically gives us numbers to the flavor differences between the fruit to help us see if the treatments we are using are have an effect (good or bad) on flavor.  This is the final in a long line of tests we have run this year on fruit quality - AND I AM SO EXCITED FOR IT TO BE FINISHED!!!!

As I said this all would have taken MUCH longer without my generous husband's help!

Flowers from Hubby!

 My sweet husband bought me flowers this week!  Aren't they so Christmas-y?

Catch-up on 37 weeks of pregnancy!

So I obviously haven't done a very good job keeping you up to date on my progress so far, but I'm hoping to make up for lost time in this post!  Here are the photos I have of my and Eb's progress through the weeks!

 <-As best as we can tell, Eb was 5 weeks old when we took this picture!

 When we were visiting Susan and John in Arizona we were about 8 weeks along! ->

 <-We were 14 weeks and had heard Eb's heart beat for the first time at this point!

 At 16 weeks Eb took his first ride on a sedgway! ->

<- At 18 weeks Eb was in Glacier!

 Still at 18 weeks - couldn't help showing off my pregnant hubby again! ->

 <- 19 weeks at the 1880's town!

 21 weeks, slowly growing! ->

 <- 22 weeks and the last time I fit into this dress - for a while at least!

 Pandora thought my belly was a comfy perch from 23 weeks on! ->

 <- 23 weeks without Pandora.

 24 weeks! ->

 <- From 26 weeks on I had to graduate to mostly maternity pants, the jeans in the next picture still worked if I wore a long shirt and pants extenders!

 27 weeks and still growing!  Most of my non-maternity shirts really don't fit at this point, the few I can wear need a really long undershirt! ->

 <- Here we jump to 32 weeks at a picnic at Lake Alice!

 This one is also 32 weeks, but a little further in the week at one of our wonderful showers! ->

 <- Playing shadow puppets at 33 weeks!

 35 weeks and starting to feel the weight! Around here I started to have some swelling, up until this point I was very blessed not to have to deal with much water retention! ->

 And that bring us to today!  37 weeks and Eb is officially considered full term, although it would still be good for him to wait until his due date he is developed enough now that if he were born he wouldn't need any extra time in the hospital!

So thrilled and thankful for a healthy pregnancy thus far, and ready to meet our new little man in three short weeks... or less!