oh baby: 30 weeks big

i made it to 30 weeks! i guess i am not that surprised that i made it, but how fast it came is quite alarming. i still have a lot to do before baby sparks' arrival and so i am glad that i can finish things up at a good pace. i am hoping to be 100% ready by 38 weeks and then just relax for however many days/weeks that she decides to chill out in my belly.

this baby has been extremely active at ALL times of day. i thought penelope was an active baby, but this one has her beat for sure. it feels a little like she's boxing with herself for a few hours and then while she rests, she get the hiccups. it is really fun. if penny lays her head on my belly the baby will kick it without fail.
 
the picture above is one i took at a shower i helped throw. i will post about that tomorrow, hopefully. there are more belly pictures coming...me with my 2 pregnant friends...get excited.

other notes:

-i get super moody when i don't eat for long periods of time.
-my left foot cramps up every few hours and it's a really bad situation if i am driving.
-i finished the baby's quilt and coming home outfit. i am really excited to show them to you, i just need to snap the pics.
-i am grateful to living in CA during citrus season...yummy.
-i am grateful for in and out, although i think that my post baby waistline won't.
-i am grateful that bryan loves to run and play around with p. because i am just not the tent/fort-maker that he is.
-i am grateful to live in CA where i can take p to the playground everyday through the winter...unless it rains. 
-i miss my family in UT

maritime museum

it is museum month in san diego. this means that most all museums in the area are 1/2 off.  we decided to take advantage of this and go to a museum on saturday. if you live in SD you should take advantage of this too! all you need to do is pick up a packet at any macy's cash register.we were going to go to the natural history museum; but after i told bryan that our friends the pugmires had gone to the maritime museum, he wanted to do that instead (refer to my last post.) i think we will try to go to the natural history museum next saturday.

the museum was really fun and had a lot of sail boats, subs and other ships-check out their website. we learned how a steam engine works, how ships and brigs used their sails and that the US submarine would have been much nice to live in than the russian one. penelope was keeping her eyes out for pirates the whole time and she even got to see some, as there was a halloween costume photo shoot on one of the vessels. the sexy pirate girls waved at her and she thought that was pretty much the best.

look how good we are at taking pictures of ourselves...are you jealous?

the russian sub

the US sub 

passenger area of steam farrey Berkley

HMS surprise... this is the one with the "pirates."

the star of india

she sails! hopefully...

bryan is pretty much obsessed with sailing at this point. his greatest dream is to sail to tahiti (he served an LDS mission in tahiti and fell in love.) this is a dream we do not share. he knows that if he takes this journey i will not accompany him. months and months on the wide open sea on a smallish boat does not appeal to me. also, there is a very good chance that we might....well... die. his current retirement plan is to buy a sail boat and live on it. another dream that i do not share :). i love you honey, but we need to discuss these plans.

i do, however, think it is super awesome that he wants to learn how to sail and i would totally be on board with smallish sailing trips at some point. we are thinking about getting him into some sort of sailing class, but until then he is going to play around with small model sail boats. i mentioned that while we were in UT for christmas, bryan built a boat. i finally got around to making the sails for it and he got them all set up a few days ago. it is his first attempt and we haven't taken it out and tested it, but i think it looks pretty sweet. i will let you know when she takes her maiden voyage and if, in fact, she does sail.

the above 2 pictures are of the riggings that control the sails. 

all photos by bryan

french macaroon's: TAKE ONE

my first attempt at french macaroons was a couple of weeks ago. i plan to do it again...but here's the news. blanching and grinding almonds is a PAIN! i don't know that the actual result is worth the time it takes to make the almond flour. i made extra, so i am going to give these a few more tries. i made these ones vanilla and used nutella for the filling! YUM! p and i ate them as a little afternoon snack.

here's the recipe i used, thanks martha. it's really easy and way more simple than some of the recipes i can across during my research. i used a mini ice cream scoop to shape them. next time i will pipe them with my frosting tube as recommended. i think they would turn out prettier.

i hope you all have a great weekend. tonight we have a family pizza & movie night planned and hopefully we'll hit up the natural history museum in the morning.

ashlee's pink & yellow baby shower

tira pugmire, judy pugmire (tira's M.I.L.) and i threw a baby shower for ashlee last weekend. it was a really nice shower and i was excited to be a part of it. ashlee is expecting her 3rd baby and first girl. her youngest is 5 and so they are reentering the world of baby again and i am so excited for her and her family.

here are the details...

the invitation: i made these invites to imitate the pom poms that i was making for decoration. the colors we chose were yellow and pink. 

the decor: i did this pom pom banner and judy made this sweet flag banner, both of which ashlee could take home to decorate her baby room. judy did some lovely flower arrangements.

 

the favor: we made these cute flower hair clips to serve as a garland and the favor that each lady could take home.

  

the food: tira made assorted muffins, i did a fruit platter with dip and a spinach & egg Florentine casserole, judy made scones. all of the food was delish! i am linking the recipes for most of the dishes below.

i made little food labels in the same style as the invites & we wrapped lemonade filled bottles from ikea with fabric and a diaper pin.

 

  

cheddar & dill scones (from the barefoot contessa cookbook) | snicker doodle muffins(we renamed these and made them mini)

 three berry muffins, snicker doodle muffins & banana chocolate chip muffins (from baked: new frontiers in baking)

three berry muffins or blueberry muffins

from tira's mom

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (tira used a 3 berry blend)

...preheat oven to 375 degrees. spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray.

...cream the butter and sugar. stir in the eggs, one at a time. add the milk. in a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and stir with a whisk to sift them together. stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. add vanilla, stir until combined. fold in the blueberries.

...scoop batter into prepared pan. sprinkle the tops with sugar.

...bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

 eggs Florentine casserole

 

fruit & dip with orange zest 

quilting project: tira headed up this quilting project. each guest created their own quilt square using a few templates and fabric that we'd previously applied heat and bond to. they ironed their designs down and then signed their name on a square that will be on the back of the quilt. tira and i got together to finish up the squares that didn't get used at the shower. tira is putting it all together (stitching around the designs, sewing the blocks together, binding and quilting.) i am SO excited to see it finished and i will definitely show you guys a picture of the final product.

 

the presents: we opened presents after socializing and working on the quilting project. ashlee got a bunch of really cute gifts and i wish i had gotten more pictures. i can cheat and show you what i gave her, because i photographed it beforehand. i made her a cap, booties and a couple of jersey knit headbands.

 

happy valentines day!

valentines breakfast...pink blueberry pancakes, of course.

 penelope making her valentines

i hope you all have a wonderful valentines' day with your loved ones!

xoxo, emily

last weekend and a baby update

well now that it's been a week, i figure i should share a few pictures from our weekend. bryan and i got a weekend away in cardiff-by-the-sea. penelope was being tended by anna and justin (or if you ask p, having a sleepover with her cousins.) we are so blessed to have family near so that we can enjoy a little weekend away for our anniversary.

we stayed at a nice b&b thanks to a great deal on groupon. we got a lot of rest, ate sea food, went to 2 movies, walked on the beach & around the self realization fellowship hermitage & meditation gardens. it was lovely.

from the roof at the lodge at cardiff-by-the-sea (we meant to capture the ocean in the BG, not the lovely parking lot of the building behind...)

 pics from SRF gardens

here i am last week at 27 weeks

BABY UPDATE: i went in to dr. b yesterday for my 28 week appointment. i had and ultrasound and baby sparks is doing great. i even got another cute picture of her profile.

i had my blood glucose screening done as well. the good news on that matter is that i do not have gestational diabetes! yay! i do have a number of other blood related issues. i am anemic (which i've been since day 1,) i have a low platelet count and large blood cells (which could be indicative of low b12 or folic acid.) we will retest again in a few weeks.

  i am trying not to get worried about it. i am going to keep up on my vitamins and supplements and try to eat better. i am hoping that these things have worked themselves out by my next appointment.

p.s. i started baby's quilt! and her coming home outfit... yay!