After receiving my baby book and flipping through it, I noticed there are eight places to put belly progression pictures.  As of two days ago, I only had taken two (one at 14 weeks and one being the one my Mom took of me while visiting, at 19 weeks).

I had my husband take a picture of me last night (at 25 weeks).  I have another five pictures to take in the next possible 15 weeks (I think I’m going to need to mark my calendar to make sure I get these next five pictures taken…easy math though…every three weeks).

I don’t keep in contact with many friends from college, high school, junior high, and especially grade school, but I do have one friend who I’ve kept in contact with the longest.  I’m not exactly sure when we became friends, but I do know we were best friends in Kindergarten.  Her name is Christina.  When we finished 2nd grade, she had to move to Texas, but we still kept in contact.  She’d visit Illinois occasionally and I’d get to see her.  She even stood up in my wedding back in 1997 and that was the last time I saw her, although we continued to stay in contact.

Last week I got an email from her letting me know that she’d be near Charlotte, NC and wondered if I’d have time to see her while she was in town.  She was staying with a friend in the small town of Salisbury, NC (about 2.5 hours away from Raleigh).  My husband and I had been wanting to plan a trip to the new IKEA in Charlotte, but just hadn’t done so yet.  We thought this past weekend would be a perfect time to see Christina and check out the new IKEA in Charlotte.  What a great day we had!

It started with seeing Christina and meeting her friend Dawn in Salisbury, NC.  We had lunch at a quaint restaurant called Sidewalk Deli in downtown Salisbury.  Their food and service was incredible!  We spent a couple of hours with them before we got on the road to IKEA and they went for a trolley tour of Salisbury.  I had such a great time with Christina (catching up on the past years).  It was so much fun!  Here’s a picture of the last time I saw Christina before my wedding and one of us from this past weekend.

We spent 4.5 hours at IKEA shopping around, then spent another 3 hours shopping at the Concord Mills Mall in Concord, NC.  We got some great stuff at both places, so both long shopping trips were well worth it (although my feet and ankles would have to disagree).

We’ve had a wonderful weekend.  Very last minute planning, but oh so much fun!

I’m not one for the “cutesy” stuff when it comes to kids.  Sure, I’ll have some things (it’s a kid), but I like to purchase things that grow with a child (my kids bedroom decor is not changing when he’s two).  So, it makes sense that the baby book I would purchase would be more grown up too.

I found it on Etsy and did a ton of research before purchasing it.  I scoured the internet to find just the right thing.  I wanted it to be “boyish”, but not “kiddish” (if that makes sense).  I found an amazing seller on Etsy who created the most beautiful baby book I’ve ever seen.  It’s just perfect and so me.

I’m not sure about you, but I have my baby book and I do look at it occasionally.  I’m guessing since I’m having a boy that he won’t care to ever look at it, but I’m guessing his wife might want to or his kids (yes, I think way into the future).

So, here come some pics (horrible quality, so I apologize)….

The front cover (above) says “Everyday Moments” on it, but once we come up with a name, I’ll replace it with a personalized insert (which the person will create for me who I purchased this album from).

Here is the inside of the album as I opened it up for the first time.  It’s all strapped together and sealed with the Etsy sellers name “Edna Mae Baby”.

Here’s a picture of the “family tree” page with a journaling page next to it to talk about who everyone is that is listed.

Here are a couple of photo pages where I can put pictures of me with my pregnant belly and list what week it was taken (which reminds me that I need to take another picture of my belly and update you all on my size).

Here’s a blank journal page and a page to record some milestones (held head up, turned over, first tooth, slept all night, reached for object, first steps, crawled, pulled up, sat alone, etc…).

A page for “hopes, dreams, and prayers” for our child and a couple of photo inserts for when the baby is one month old and two months old.

Here are a couple of pages for certain ages (particularly ages three and four for what’s pictured).  As I’m sure you’ve figured out, I only took pictures of an extremely small portion of this baby book.  There is so much more included!

I’m so excited about this book and cannot wait to start filling it up.  What a great way to journal and keep track of such monumental moments.

Husband of 64 years
Father of 5
Grandfather of 13
Great-Grandfather of 13
Friend to Everyone

It’s finished!  I actually finished it on Friday night, but wanted to get it washed first (so it had the final “effect”). :)  I’m very pleased!  I love the look of the free motion quilting (vs. the straight lines), but it’s a ton of work and I’m not sure I want to go there again.

I ended up making the stitching by hand on the front messy (on purpose).  I figured since you could see the stitching throughout the quilt (the lighter tan thread on top of the darker color fabric), that I would make sure the stitching on the outside showed too.  It’s messy, but the quilt is for a boy and of course a baby and the baby doesn’t know any different.  It feels so good to be done!

I will be starting on another quilt for my niece (a larger one).  I’ll be getting the fabric at the end of July and getting started then.  I’m meeting with my friend Susan on the Fridays that we’re both available and we’re both working on a quilt.  We plan on finishing up at the end of September.  I’ll make sure to post pictures on my blog of that quilt too.  Stay tuned!

My sister, 2 nieces, and nephew arrive tonight and are staying the week.  I can’t wait!!!  We have a ton of fun things in store for them (at least I hope they think it’s fun).

Last night for dinner we made the Not-So-Sweet & Sour Pork with Udon Noodles from the Fall 2008 Clean Eating Magazine.  It was very simple to make and even though it seemed like it would taste strange, it tasted VERY good.  I think we might even try this recipe with chicken next time to see how that tastes (although the pork tasted great).  We’ll definitely have this again.  It also gave me a chance to use the Wok another time.  The Wok is starting to become a favorite kitchen appliance of mine (so quick and simple to make a meal).

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I had my monthly appointment today (I’m at 23 weeks).  All went well.  I am measuring great, weight gain this month wasn’t too bad at all, and I heard the heartbeat again (148 bpm).  It was a very fast appointment and I met another doctor in the practice, which I really liked!  I’ll go again in another month, which will be the dreaded glucose testing and blood work.  Yuck!  After this appointment, I’ll just be in my third trimester and start going to the doctor every two weeks.  Hard to believe I’m this far along already.

On a side note, I worked on laundry all yesterday and got all the sheets, blankets, and towels washed for our soon-to-be guests (my sister, 2 nieces, and nephew).  I have them all laid out on the guest bed, all folded up and ready to go.  I happened to walk by the room today and found Oscar hiding among my neatly folded and washed laundry (see pic).  *sigh*

I’m still working on the binding of the quilt (working on a bit each night).  I am just over half finished with it (I told you it takes forever).  I’m hoping to be done with it no later than Friday night so I can get it in the wash by Saturday so it’s ready to show off to my guests.

Last night I made Turkey Casserole from the Winter 2008 issue of Clean Eating Magazine.  If the sound of the word “casserole” makes you cringe (like it does my husband), keep in mind that this looks nothing like what we think of when we think “casserole”.

We both liked this meal, but both decided it needed a variation.  First off, it looks very unappetizing, although all of the ingredients in it sound good.  Second, it tastes very healthy, but somewhat bland (which is why we both felt the need to modify it a bit).  I added a bit of soy sauce to mine (you can never have enough salt when you’re pregnant….just kidding) and my husband added some shredded Cheddar cheese to his.  We both loved our variations.  We have plenty of leftovers (even though it says it serves 4, I would say it serves 6).  I plan on trying my husbands version (with the cheese) tonight.

We both agreed this was something to make again.  It very easily went together and just tastes out right healthy.  It’s nice to finish dinner and not feel bloated or full the rest of the evening….just satisfied with no extra ailments (heartburn, etc…).

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Last night I made a curry chicken dish from the Oxygen Collector’s Issue of Nutrition (Fall 2007) Magazine.  We both liked it, but thought it was a bit thick.  I think next time I’ll add some water or something to make it more of a sauce.  It just seemed to need some sort of liquid added to it.

I did add rice and we put the curry chicken over the rice.  I was surprised the recipe didn’t call for it to go over something (rice, pasta, etc…).

We’d make it again, but not anytime soon.  It wasn’t our favorite meal, but the flavors to it were nice to add to the mix of food we’ve been having lately.

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Today for lunch we had Smothered Steak Sandwiches from the March/April 2009 Clean Eating Magazine.  These were so easy to make with few ingredients (part of their “Fast, Five-Ingredient Entree” article).

My husband is working from home today, so it seemed like a fun lunch to make for us both (something other than a salad, deli meat sandwich, or frozen meal).  They were filling and flavorful.  We both liked them and would have them again.  And, lucky for us, we have leftovers.

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