A Few Things In August...

Amid the August Texas heat, there are a few things going on around here this month. None of them are paramount happenings, but they are exciting just the same.

Well, this week my DH and I are interviewing pediatricians. We interviewed one last week and we interview three more this week. Who would have thought that finding a pediatrician would be so involved and that the poor doctors still get interviewed for the job even after they are established in a practice? We are praying that one of these four will make us feel really comfortable and give us some peace of mind.

My mom is coming out on Friday!!! We are going to work on the little mural for over the crib and hopefully we will get in some fun out and about time too. My poor mom always works, works, works while she is out here. So, the plan is to be finished with the mural by noon on Saturday and then have the rest of the weekend to do whatever other stuff jumps into our heads.
My DH and I start our child birthing class this month. It should be interesting. I hope I learn a lot, but not too much information so that I get worried about the whole thing.

This month I have two doctors' appointments. Then on the 1st of September I start the twice a week visits. I will keep the pictures coming of my growing tummy. I just marvel at God's little creation inside of me and all of our little boy's movements. I like to just lay on the couch and watch him move around.

My DH's semester starts at the end of the month. He is getting his courses prepared and tying up a few loose ends from his summer work.

I have a few sewing projects that I really want/need to get finished before the end of the month. I am wanting to make a couple of nursing covers and accent some of the burp clothes with coordinating fabric. I also have a nap pad that I to make and the curtains for the nursery. I will have to post pictures of the finished products when they are done. My goal is to have all of these projects finished this month so that I can work on some other projects next month.

What about you? What all do you have going on? Are getting ready for school to start back this month?

The July Now Past...

How quickly July flew right on by. For us it was a month that was packed pretty full. We had a lot of stuff going on, but seemed to have survived all of the "busy-ness" and traveling unscathed. I know that I haven't consistently done monthly summaries recently, but I really like looking back and seeing what all happened in the months past. So, here it goes...

We started of the month in Florida. We spent a week with my DH's family and then a week with mine. Both my MIL and my mom hosted a baby shower for us. The one at my MIL's was a couples shower. We had a great time and it was fun to have my DH there as we opened all the cute little baby things. Below are a few pictures from that shower.

(The yummy food table)
(Cloth diaper cake and petite fore table)
(Visiting with family)
(Me and Matt's Aunt who co-hosted the shower)

The next Sunday, my mom hosted a baby shower for me. She invited all of the ladies form my church back in Florida. It was so nice to see all of them and get to visit with them. Below are a few pictures from that shower. (The food table)

(The pregnant lady at the food table)

(Group picture from the shower)

The following Thursday, we went to my mom's work for a birthday lunch for her. Turns out, it was a surprise baby shower/birthday lunch. It was a complete surprise and was such a thoughtful thing for the people my mom works with to do for us. Below are some pictures from that shower.(Very tasty cake, made by one on my mom's co-workers)(Opening up little baby things)

(Group picture)

We spent the rest of our days in Florida just hanging out. I never knew how much I missed the beach until this trip home. We wound up going to the beach two or three times and I managed not to get sunburned. Yay!!! We went to the gardens that are near where my parents live. It is always so fun to go through them and actually see flowers. (Out here in Texas, at least where we live, botanical gardens are mainly cactus and ornamental grasses and I miss hydrangeas and hibiscus.) We also went to a Naval museum and several other local museums and just wandered around. I don't really have any other pictures from our trip home, which I am disappointed about. I need to get better about documenting our trips.

I managed to get us unpack and back to normal within a week of returning home. Thank the Lord I have been pretty energetic for a large part of the day, so I have been able to keep up the house and my FlyLady cleanings. I even managed to make the curtains for the office. I have been needing to make them for several months now and I finally got around to them. The picture of them isn't really that good though.
One of the projects that my DH and I wanted to have completed before our little boy arrives is a fenced area for us to use. Our yard is occupied by three dogs and with three dogs comes a lack of being able to play in the grass (enough said). So, we decided that we wanted to fence in a portion of our yard that would have clean grass and be puppy-free. My DH put then fence up a couple of weekends ago. This isn't the best picture, but at least you can see what a nice, large area we will have to play in.

I really can't think of anything else that went on this month. I am sure that I will think of it later, but for now that's it.

The Beginning of the End...

Well July has come to a close and with the end of the month, the anticipation of meeting our little boy grows. As of today, I am 29 weeks along and am now definitely in my third trimester. Yay!!!

My mom is coming next weekend and we are going to work on the nursery. I have been working on a valance for the nursery, but I am not sure that it is going to work. I have bought four different rugs for the nursery, but so far none of them have been "it" so they have gone back to whence they came. I think after mom and I paint the mural above the crib, I will hopefully be able to get the finishing touches in the nursery in place.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and it went well. The doctor checked our little guys heart-rate, measured my belly, and gave me another Rogam injection. I had the glucose test done to check for gestational diabetes and some other blood work done. The doctors office was getting the results back today and they told me to go by the "no news is good news" if I didn't hear from them today. I didn't hear anything from them, so I guess that things are good.

I have two more appointments that are two weeks apart and at 32 weeks I start having appointments twice a week until the little boy's arrival. My doctor wants to keep an eye on the baby to make sure that he doesn't start getting stressed. The presence of the anticardio lipins in my blood (one of the main reasons for my having to do the Lovenox injections) is making my doctor want to take extra precautions for our little boy's safe arrival and I am in complete agreement with her.

Now, we are just counting down the days.

Cinnamon-Oat Panckaes...

Happy Monday to you! I hope that your weekend was nice and enjoyable. We had a pretty relaxing weekend around here. We started watching Cleopatra (which I have never seen but always wanted to), but I fell asleep about an hour or so into it. I guess it will take us a while to watch it at the rate I am going.

Last week discovered a recipe for some pancakes and yesterday morning I gave them a try. We really liked them, so I thought that I would share the recipe with you. It is from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. The recipe was featured in the Freeze It section and I must admit I never thought of freezing pancakes before. I have made up a big batch of waffles before and put them in the freezer, but the thought of doing the same for pancakes never entered my mind. The recipe uses rolled oats as part of the batter and I really like the constancy and flavor it gave them.

Cinnamon-Oat Pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for skillet

In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and 1 cup oats and pulse a few times to coarsely grind oats. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, and oil. Add dry ingredients and 1 cup oats and whisk just until moistened.

Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Lightly oil skillet. Using 2 to 3 tablespoons for each pancake, drop batter in skillet and cook until a few bubbles have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook until browned on undersides, 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat with more oil and batter.

They are great served with butter and syrup or bananas and powdered sugar.

Yield: 20 pancakes, 5 servings of 4 pancakes each.

To freeze: Cool pancakes on a wire rack, then arrange in a single layer on a baking shheet. Freeze them until firm, about 30 minutes. Transfer pancakes to a resealable plastic bag and store in the freezer up to 3 months.

To reheat from frozen: For a single serving, warm pancakes in the toaster or toaster oven. For larger batches, arrange pancakes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cover with foil and heat at 350 degrees F until warm, 10 minutes.

Being Rich in Faith and Not Afraid...

At our church, we are just starting a study on the seven churches in Revelations. Last week our pastor preached on the church in Ephesus. This week he preached about the church in Smyrna.

"Do not fear! Be faithful to God in your tribulations and even your death!"

The above charge that was given to the church of Smyrna hundreds of years ago is still a great charge for us today. In some countries Christians are persecuted for their faith and for them this charge screams relevance. For those of us that are not facing persecution the relevance can seem minute. However, fear plays a large role in many of our lives. When we fear we are worrying more about the problem or situation at hand than we are trusting the One who is in control of it all. We should continue our faith in God no matter what our circumstances are; we are RICH in Christ.

Rescued from sin and death
Inherited the riches of the Kingdom of Christ (I Peter 1:4)
Chosen by God to proclaim His excellence (I Peter 2:9)
Hope that cannot be shaken (Jer. 14:22, Titus 1:2)

A Reintroduction...

Hi, I would like to reintroduce myself. My name is Charree. I was once not too long ago pretty good about regularly posting on this blog. However, as of late I have been less than reliable. I have hopes that I will once again become regular about posting the things that are going on around here.

Things have been pretty busy around here. My DH and I spent 2 1/2 weeks in Florida visiting our families and then I spent last week unpacking and getting things back to normal. I have pictures from the showers in Florida that I want to share, but that will have to wait until I get them all organized.

On Friday I started my 27th week of pregnancy. The official countdown in on, 87 days left until our little boy's due date. I can feel myself getting more and more excited with each passing day. I had a doctor's appointment last week and everything is going well. In fact, I have started my every two week doctor's visits and I have to do the blood sugar test next week. The picture below is of me at 27 weeks and 3 days.
I hope that your day is blessed and I look forward to catching up with all of my blogging friends soon.

Being 21 Again...

Well, I am 21 again, though this time I will only be this way for a week instead of a year. Corny joke I know.

My DH and I took some self-portraits this weekend of the two of us and the baby bump.

I had my five month appointment today and everything seems to be going well. I am past halfway there. BIG YAY!!!! My shots are going well and I don't have anything to complain about. I have really been able to feel our little boy moving around the last week or so. Last night my DH was able to feel a big kick for the first time. I am so excited that he was able to feel our little one moving around.

I think that it is really starting to set in that we are going to have a baby and the more I think about the more excited I get. I am just being remind constantly of the years I prayed that God would bless us with a little one. I am trusting God to lead me as I bring this little one into the world and as we raise him to fear the Lord.

I have been feeling the urge to prepare myself for raising our little boy. I want him to become a godly man. For my summer reading I am wanting to read Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson and Wild At Heart by John Eldredge. After talking to one of my dear friends who is currently raising two boys, the thoughts that I had about preparing myself for our little boy were reinforced. I do believe that I will be reading those two books once a year from now on.

Have any of you read a book on raising boys that you found to helpful or enlightening?

A Good Book and Some Time Together...

Hello there to all of you! I hope that your week is off to a good start.
This weekend my DH and I started a Bible study together called Dust to Glory. The study is an overview of the Bible from Genesis to Revelations. We have decided to set aside Sunday evenings to watch the next DVD lesson and discuss what we learned over the last week. This week we covered Genesis 1.

Have any of you gone through this study?

Retro Quick Coffee Cake...

When I was younger, my sister had the American Girl's Molly Cookbook. We made several things from it. One thing that we made time and time was the Coffee Cake. I made it recently and was reminded of my sister and I cooking it. It is a really simple and easy recipe based on a WWII recipe, so I thought that I would share it with you. I hope you enjoy it.

Quick Coffee Cake
Shortening to grease the pan
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening (butter)
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Use paper towel to grease the baking pan with the shortening.

Put the sifter into a medium mixing bowl. Measure the flour, baking soda, and salt into the sifter and sift them into a bowl.

Measure 3 tablespoons of shortening (butter) into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Slowly add the sugar to the shortening and beat until fluffy. Turn off the mixer. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Crack the egg into a large mixing bowl. Add the milk. Beat well with the electric mixer. Scrape the sides of the bowl with the rubber spatula.

Add dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl. Stir them with a spoon just enough to completely wet. Pour the mixture into the greased baking pan.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat.

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter.

Sprinkle the mixture over the batter in the baking pan. Bake coffee cake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

The May Past and the June Ahead...

Goodness gracious, May just flew right on by and now June is here. I can't believe that it is June; but, I do feel like a lot of stuff happened and was accomplished in May.

May started off great with a visit from my sister for a few days. Her visit was followed very shortly by my birthday and my DH and I's third anniversary. It was a great week and I was sad that all of the excitement ended so quickly.

My DH and I have almost completed our intermediate ballroom dance class. We have had a lot of fun and it is definitely exercise. When we finish our two hours class I feel like I have been doing a Cardio workout. We did have to miss class a couple of time because my feet were too swollen to fit into my dance shoes. But, we managed to learn what we missed last week, so we aren't behind.

We did have a foster dog that wandered up to our house last November. He (Jackson) was a sweet dog, but four was just one too many, especially with our little boy on the way. Well, I had a yard sale several weeks ago and I posted a "Free Dog to Good Home" sign. We found a good home for him and both Jackson and the little girl that took him both looked so happy to have found each other. As they drove off with him, I started to cry. It was sad to see him go, but a blessing that we were able to find him a good home and didn't have to take him to the humane society.

The month of May was a big preparation month for us. We found out on the 19th that God is blessing us with a little boy! So, let the preparation begin, and begin it did. Our nursery furniture came in and I am really pleased with it. Below is a picture of my DH putting together the dresser.
The house switch-a-roo is pretty much complete. We have managed to switch our former bedroom and my former sewing room into our new bedroom and the nursery. We even painted the rooms and put up some crown molding. Our room took a little bit of finagling around with to get our king size bed and all of our furniture into it. We are liking the result though. (Click here for the before picture of the room.)
We have got the nursery set up, but it is lacking most of the details in it. Below is a picture of my DH putting together the crib. As you can see from the picture below, the walls are blue and the furniture is an espresso color. I will show more pictures of the nursery when it is completed (but that will be a while).
This month we have a pretty busy, but yet laid back month (is that possible???). I will not be watching the children I keep for the next six weeks. I do have a long list of things I would like to do or accomplish before this little break from working is over with. This week I am hoping to make a maternity skirt for myself and a maternity dress. We will have to see how the end results turn out.

We are taking a short trip home this month to see family. We are excited that we will get to see all of them. I will post some pictures of the visit when we go.

I hope all of you are off to a good start in the month of June! May your month be blessed!