Having Fun Doing Nothing

I have said this before, but one of my favorite things about our marriage/relationship is Matthew and I can have fun doing anything. Not to mention it is very convenient (and cost effective) to be entertained by anything.....and everything! I am one lucky girl!

Here are just a few random fun pictures....

Chocolate Pie, Matthew's favorite. This was my first time to make it....you will see in a few photos how it turned out.

Yummy dinner for no reason. Homemade beef enchiladas (plus fresh cilantro, green onions and sour cream toppings choices), homemade guacamole (made by Matthew---he is an expert at making this stuff now), STORE bought salsa, chips and of course, kool-aid. PLUS...the chocolate pie for dessert.

This is how the chocolate pie turned out.....licked the plate clean :) He is cute :)

This is for Krista....the closest thing to a chocolate bar I have found in D.C. You can hardly tell but it is a sweet little chocolate shop filled with lots of YUMMY goodies.

Before meeting friends for dinner, we discovered A COFFEE PUB!!!!!! DREAM COME TRUE FOR ME :) It was so cute inside, definitely a good place to snuggle up with a good book and sip some specialty coffees! I had a raspberry truffle mocha....YUM!!!

Stroller 101 with Piper as the practice baby :)

Stroller 101 with Piper as the practice baby :)

The Latest and Greatest, Including the 36 Week Update

The latest and greatest in the Grant Household...

Party Time: Matthew went to Collin's Bachelor Party in North Carolina this weekend. Collin, a college friend of Matthew's, was an usher in our wedding and his beautiful bride Karen has been friends with Matthew for years. They will tie the knot on March 13 and we are so sad we will be unable to attend to the wedding--its only 9 days from D-Day! So, we were thrilled when he was able to meet up with all his guy friends for the bachelor party! All the wives decided the next trip will probably be a fun filled family trip because by this summer we will have three babies and one small child (Noah is a big kid now) in the group.....and who knows what other surprises might bring :)

Greatest Mama Mia Award: My mom (aka Mama Mia to Blessing) won the Greatest Mama Mia award when she surprised me with a diaper bag I have been eying for a while now! She was supposed to be helping me scout out a good deal on it and she did...only she bought it for me instead! I cannot wait until it comes in the mail!! My mom is the greatest in so many ways but this was one of those I wanted to share!

THE baby bag :)

Baby Classes: We have taken a few classes to prepare us for parenthood and to say they are interesting is an understatement. The first was an abbreviated version of a childbirth class; boy am I glad it was abbreviated I would have hyperventilated after 4 weeks of practicing breathing. Can breathing really be that hard? Seems pretty basic. Our classmates ranged from the stereotypical nervous neurotic dad to the scared mommy to the gigglers (we were the gigglers). We also took an infant CPR class; funny how we only managed to actually practice CPR /choking topics for a total of an hour of the four hour class. The teacher was an amazing lady---a survivor. I vowed to try to remember her anytime I am tempted to complain about not sleeping or my back hurting or my random contractions. She survived a stroke, heart attack (she has a pacemaker now), breast cancer and divorce and still finds joy in her life as a P.E. teacher. Matthew and I stayed after class to talk to her---it was so sweet!

What is the next class on the agenda you ask? Breastfeeding. This one had to be rescheduled due to all the snow; it will be about 2 weeks from d-day, so we may skip it. I cannot see myself practicing THAT with a doll like we did in the CPR class---EEK!!! If we went, it would mostly be to be entertained.

Alice in Wonderland: I just had to say how excited Matthew and I are that Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp is coming to theaters on March 5!!!! We both love Tim Burton movies and really enjoy Johnny Depp, so we will be there as soon as it opens!!

Just a few characters from the movie...Johnny Depp is on the left.

All About Blessing: We are at 36 weeks!! This time next week Blessing will be considered full term---so BRING ON THE ARRIVAL!!!!! All the websites I read say the baby is, on average, about 6 pounds by this point....no wonder my back is hurting so bad. Even though we cannot be certain, I think our Blessing has packed on a little more weight than that, but only time will tell if that is true :)

36 weeks and busting out of my shirt!

The doctor's appointment yesterday was as non-eventful as the rest, which is good. Measurements were right on target and the heart beat was 144...perfect! My blood pressure remains humorously low for a pregnant lady, one less thing to worry about. The baby is head down and there is not much room to roll back the other way, so hopefully Blessing will stay put. There were also a few other signs that we were getting close to arrival, but I will spare you :) We also did the GBS screening (see my last post for information about what this test is---especially all my pregnant friends). Even if it came back positive, its not a big deal. If positive, we cannot labor at home and I have to be on antibiotics the entire birth---no big deal at all. Only unique element for US is since penicillin is the drug of choice and I am allergic to it, they will have to run some reactive tests to find an alternative antibiotic for me :) So, all in all---no matter the outcome its all good!! Right now the toughest thing is getting comfortable at night, my back has really been bothering me. The rest of the symptoms are just plain funny.

We have everything pretty much ready to go now! Last thing to do is adjust the baby bed height and put all the hospital bag contents IN the bag. So like I said before----BRING IT ON.

Special thank you to Aunt Becky for the Bumbo and carrier cover--it will get lots of use. And Grandma Grant for the cute hats she knitted. I espeically like the red one with the little balls on top :)

Thanks for reading and love to you all!

Valentines Day and Weekly Doctor's Visits

Valentine's Day: Matthew and I decided to celebrate a belated Valentines day since restaurants and other entertainment is too crowded on February 14. PLUS, its always fun to have a couple of small celebrations rather than one huge blow out. On Saturday, I made Valentine Sprank Toast---translation: French Toast with pink sprinkles. Sunday we wore PJ's to Panera Bread and enjoyed our favorite bagel combo---French Toast Bagel with Hazelnut cream cheese---and coffee (credit to Mrs. Brandi McKinnon who introduced me to that delectable and irresistible combination). I also gave Matthew his Vday prize, a picture frame that holds three 4x6 pictures. He mentioned he needed another picture frame for work. I placed a picture of LC (his niece), a wedding photo and reserved the middle photo for a "Blessing, Coming Soon". Since Matthew was off today, he picked me up from work greeting me with a dozen fragrant roses in hand! After our doctors appointment, we had a leisurely, early dinner at Bonefish Grill and concluded by watching "The Time Traveler's Wife" at home! An evening with the love of my life, is always perfect. I am officially a sap, because I do love that man more today than when I said "I Do" 9 months ago.


Weekly Doctor's Visit: Everything went well at the doctor's visit today and I was SO happy to have Matthew present. In fact---it was FABULOUS, I lost a pound!!!!!!! YAY!!! Even though I am not trying to lose weight *obviously* AND have not known my weight since I was about 17, it was nice to know at least one of these extra pounds is gone!! My GBS screening test was postponed to next week, so all my pregnant friends I will give you the real down low afterward :) Heartrate was good and my ever expanding stomach measuring exactly on target yet again. I told Matthew we have a straight A student already---let's just hope those straight A's continue into school :)

Only 6 Weeks Until D-day!!

I cannot believe another two weeks has past since I posted our last pregnancy "profile" picture. The once a week Doctor's visits begin Monday! Blessing is almost here!

In other news....we are in the middle of snow storms that began on FRIDAY February 6, 2010. Once the snow finally stops, I will put up a lil blog about it, until then----the snow keeps falling and the wind keeps blowing!!!

Photo taken on 02.09.10, 34 weeks. This also happens to be our 9 month anniversary :)

Merge Ski Trip and Other "Blessing" News

Merge Ski Trip: We had an opportunity to chaperon a youth ski trip last weekend! This was Matthew's first time skiing, so he had a great time learning, falling and playing :) With all the "Blessing" excitement a few days before the trip, I decided to just be on photo op.

Matthew also led worship for one of the sessions. He did so great, I was so proud. You can really tell that he lets God guide the time, so it was truly a great time of worship. The youth really seemed to enjoy the time.

All pictures are posted on facebook in the "2010, It Just Keeps Getting Better" album. Be sure to watch the video of Matthew skiing!

Matthew getting ready to hit the slopes!

Amber and I watching her little girl at ski school.

"Blessing" News: As you all know from the post below, "Blessing" gave us some drama a week and half ago, but I am pleased to report that after Monday's doctor visit everything seems to be back to the normal uneventful pregnancy, which we like :) "Blessing's" heartbeat was in the 150's and still is measuring on track---just a lil big :) The doctor said assuming nothing else exciting happens, we can have a normal labor and delivery and that the steroids I got pumped up with wont make the baby come any earlier (I was hoping for like a week early---he he he). Please continue to pray for "Blessing's" health and safety and that it stays puts until March!!! Please also pray that we are able to have a safe, normal, non-induced delivery!!!

We cannot believe that in just 46 days it will be D-Day and hopefully we will have a new addition the Grant Gang!!!! Praise God for his "Blessing"!

1.25.10, this is our 4 lb, 7 oz Blessing!! Head shot only of course!!