Welcome 2012!

Needless to say I’m beyond excited for 2012 to get here.  Each day that passes by means I’m one closer to meeting my baby in person :)  I’m also looking forward to a lot of other things that will happen before Baby C is here.  We’re hoping to take a babymoon in February so we have one last getaway as just the two of us.  I’d like to focus more on my Etsy shop this year and add more items besides just digital files.  And I really want to concentrate on getting some things on my 101 in 1001 list crossed off before June.  I’m thinking 2012 is going to be a great year!

image source

Looking back last year at welcoming in 2011.

New Year’s Eve Inspiration

We never host a party to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but I keep finding all these fun treats and goodies.  If we were going to have a party, these are a few of the things I’d consider making:

Homemade Fortune Cookies

Source: alisaburke.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edible Party Hats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: hungryhappenings.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: singforyoursupperblog.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A non-alcoholic drink for the preggo’s…Citrus Fizzy Slush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: melskitchencafe.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always have take-out Chinese on New Year’s, but I think it’d be fun to switch it up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: pizzazzerie.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Jell-O Shots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: tablespoon.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s New Years without a Champagne Bar?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sparkly Cake Pops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: thebridefairy.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

Or perhaps champagne cupcakes instead

Source: bettycrocker.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frozen Bananas w/Fun Sprinkles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: jennymayandswede.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a healthier version of Chinese if you wanted to DIY – Asian Turkey Meatballs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: skinnytaste.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

I’m just hoping I’ll be able to stay up to midnight this year! 

Thrive, Read, Surprise, & Persevere

#WEverb11 – Thrive:

What was your healthiest habit of 2011? What would you like to change or do differently in 2012?

At the end of March I made a serious decision to become healthy and drop a lot of weight I gained since getting married.  The biggest changes I made were most definitely to my diet – I started counting  calories which meant smaller portions, less snacks, and less treats.  I still indulged every so often and because of this I truly believe that moderation is key.  Sure, I could have been more strict and only ate salads every day, but that’s not me and I would have ended up pigging out on sweets if I did that. 

#WEverb11 – Read:

What article or book changed your outlook on an issue or life?

This is an article someone had posted on Facebook last week and it was very moving.  Not much to say about it other than you should take a few minutes to read through it.  Very inspiring because I’m not sure how I would react if I was in the same situation.

Led by the child who simply knew

#WEverb11 – Surprise:

What event of 2011 affected you in an unexpected way?

Watching the pregnancy test turn positive was one of the weirdest experiences of my life.  Thoughts were racing in my head like “this can’t be real” to “oh my God I’m going to be a mom!” and it was shocking at first.  I like to say that we were just going to see what would happen since we weren’t necessarily trying, but Baby C decided to show up right away :)

#WEver11 – Persevere:

Describe something that disappointed you in 2011 and how you persevered.

Sigh…my job has really disappointed me.  I don’t want to get too much into it, but it’s been a struggle there for the past two years (I have been there for 3 1/2).  This year was supposed to be full of lots of positives and good things to come, which is the only reason why I stayed as long as I have.  It’s been the complete opposite and really just keeps getting worse by the day.  It’s at the point where I would rather quit and not take maternity time and then start job searching again a few months after Baby C is born. 

How have I persevered?  I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t care as much as I did.  I used to bring a lot of feelings about work home and constantly worry.  Now I do what I need to get done and that’s it – when I’m home, I’m home, and I refuse to do anything else for a company that doesn’t give me the same respect in return. 

 

 

Source: superduperfantastic.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

15 Weeks

Woooo I think my energy is back!  I was pretty tired over the weekend but today I am feeling gooooood!  So good in fact, that I was able to walk on the treadmill for 40 minutes.  Definitely didn’t push myself, but it feels amazing to have been able to work out again.  Major success right there.  Let’s hope this isn’t just a one day thing and I’m officially over the tiredness from the first trimester.

How far along?: 15 weeks

Baby is the size of a: navel orange 

Total weight gain/loss:  +8 to 10 pound range

The Bump: Feeling bigger and bloated…but still not a very noticeable bump 

Symptoms:   A new, weird one - constant stuffy and/or runny nose.  I saw this is a legit symptom on a couple different websites but I don’t get why it happens?

Food Cravings:  Mexican…tried Chipotle for the first time today and I’m a fan

Anything Making Me Queasy or Sick: Nope

Sleep: Eh…on and off okay.

What I miss: Wearing some of my tighter clothes…some of my shirts are just not flattering anymore and don’t flaunt the extra tummy roundness in a good way

Weddings Rings On or Off: On

Any Names Picked Out Yet:  No new ones picked out

Movement: N/A

Maternity Clothes: Still doing maternity pants or leggings every day.  Bought some maternity tanks at JCPenney and they fit much better than my regular shelf bra ones from Gap…more room in the bust area and they’re longer so they’re great for layering.  And best part – on sale for $8 a piece, can’t beat that!

Labor Signs: N/A

Best Moment of the Week: Opening some presents for Baby C this past Christmas weekend!  Baby C received a few essentials, as well as an adorable little white terry cloth robe, some Red Sox socks, and a teddy bear.  And a new camcorder so we can make videos for the grandparents :)

What I’m excited about/looking forward to: Decorating the nursery – I’m hoping I’ll have time to start clearing out my stuff in the spare room this weekend so we can move the crib to where it should be. 

So I decided it was time to switch shirts to an actual maternity one – it looks like I have no bump again!  Sigh.  Below is what I wore to work today:

 

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Card for 2011:

Some of my new favorite ornaments we acquired this year:

 

A new mini stocking for Baby C:

 

And a Christmas morning belly pic:

 

Cannot wait for next Christmas!

Christmas Goodies – Holly Cupcakes

Another Pinterest find that I knew I needed to make this holiday season:

Source: flickr.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

Those look easy enough, right?  Just a little piping on top of a cupcake with some candy added.  Well let me tell you how freaking hard it is to find those little green jelly candies!  I went to Target and Hannafords with no luck.  Finally found some green jelly trees at CVS last night, so I cut those in half to make leaves.  I used red M&M’s as the berries since I still had some leftover from my reindeer cookies.  However, the M&M’s started to melt and left red coloring on top of the pretty white frosting.  UGH!  Next time I’ll be using gumballs or some kind of other red candy.

Here’s my version – I did a red velvet cupcake (cake mix + a Chobani vanilla yogurt + 1 1/3 cups water + 2 egg whites) and then a light cream cheese frosting:

Before the M&M’s started bleeding….

Whatever, at least they tasted good!

14 Weeks

Hello second trimester!  So technically I’m 14 weeks and a day, but I was way too busy last night baking for our work potluck lunch today to do my weekly recap.  Everyone keeps telling me I’m going to start feeling great again and to enjoy the second trimester, so I’m hoping that by next week I’ll have my energy back.  I desperately need to jump on the treadmill.  The weight is creeping up way faster than I would like.

How far along?: 14 weeks

Baby is the size of a: lemon 

Total weight gain/loss:  +8 to 10 pound range

The Bump: getting bigger – I still don’t think you could tell unless you knew I was pregnant, though.

Symptoms:  Still a little tired

Food Cravings:  Hamburger…luckily one is being made for me right now :)

Anything Making Me Queasy or Sick: Nope

Sleep: Not bad, just getting up once a night to pee

What I miss: Hubby was drinking White Russians at my work holiday party and I really could have gone for one.

Weddings Rings On or Off: On

Any Names Picked Out Yet:  No new ones picked out

Movement: N/A

Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity pants or leggings every day.  Mostly still wearing all my regular tops.

Labor Signs: N/A

Best Moment of the Week:  Crib and changing table are built thanks to Hubby!  

What I’m excited about/looking forward to: Christmas this weekend :) 

And what I wore to work yesterday…non-maternity sweater dress from Ann Taylor Loft and maternity leggings from Old Navy (I bought the kind with the full belly panel and oh my gosh are they comfy):

Choose, Appreciate, & Create

#WEverb11 – Choose:

What was the biggest choice you made in 2011? What caused you to choose what you chose?

This was a hard topic to think about, but ultimately I would say deciding we were ready to become parents was probably our biggest choice.  Originally we were going to wait one more year but when we were in Maine for vacation this summer, I kept seeing all the families on the beach and something just clicked.  I don’t think you’re ever completely “ready”, but we’re in a really good place now and it feels right.

#WEverb11 – Appreciate:

Appreciate. In which moment did you find yourself flooded with gratitude? How will you rally around gratitude in 2012?

I wrote about this in my Thoughts post already, but when someone close to you or not even that close to you passes away, it always makes you more thankful for what you have.  I’m really trying to change my outlook on this for 2012, so it doesn’t take the idea of death to make me appreciate what I do have and how lucky I am.

#WEverb11 – Create:

Share a creative project you undertook this year (art, writing, DIY, cooking, home decoration, crafts, photography … whatever comes to mind). How do you use your creativity to express yourself?

This was a little hard to narrow down, since this year I worked on many more craft projects compared to previous years!  I definitely explored a lot more and got more into cooking and baking more so than I have before.  I still enjoy scrapbooking and anything to do with paper crafts the most, though.  When I’m searching for a gift for someone, I often think to myself “can I make this and will it look better?” before I buy something – I love making homemade gifts now.  Here’s some of my favorite projects from this past year:

Baby Onesie Cupcakes

I adored making these and they were a huge hit!

 

Fruit Slice Jell-o Shots

These were not that hard to make (just time consuming), and they were SO YUMMY!  Perfect for a summer party or BBQ.

 

Hula Bear Cake & Cupcakes

I had been dying to make this cake since I saw the inspiration pic a couple summers ago.  Such a cute idea to dress up a cake.

 

Wedding Subway Art

New art for our bedroom – it was an easy way to capture all the good memories of our wedding.  And it also inspired me to finally open up my own Etsy shop!

 

Favorite Month & Travel

#WEverb11 – Favor:

What was your favorite month of 2011? Why did it beat out all 11 other months?

Hands-down October.  Obvious reason – we found out we were expecting on 10/11.  I would have to say November is a close second, though.  It was fun and exciting telling our friends the news and it was an overall happy time for us.

#WEverb11 – Travel:

Where did you travel this year? What was your favorite part? If you didn’t get to travel, where do you want to go next year?

This year we went to Mexico again for our first anniversary trip – it was a great idea to go back to the same destination that we had our honeymoon at but to stay at a new resort.  It was a very relaxing week and we both desperately needed the time off from work at that point.

We also went to Maine for a week at the end of the summer and we are really hoping to continue this tradition for next year…but we’ll see how that goes with a 2 month old baby :)  I’m really not sure if we would be able to travel anywhere else next year as it’s going to be tight financially and there’s only so much vacation time we both get.  We may try to do a babymoon to Florida in February before I get too big and it’s really uncomfortable to fly, but we’ll have to see.

 

Christmas Goodies – Reindeer Cookies

When I first saw these Reindeer Cookies on Pinterest, I knew I had to make them this holiday season. 

Source: buddingbaketress.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

And luckily my mom had a cookie swap a couple weeks ago so it was the perfect opportunity.  I couldn’t find mini M&M’s at my local supermarket so I decided to use chocolate chips for the eyes instead.   

These are actually very easy to make – I used a basic peanut butter cookie recipe and then rolled them into one inch balls like you normally would do.  Then you pinch the bottom of the ball, place it on the cookie sheet, and gently flatten the entire cookie so you end up with an upside down triangle shape.  I did one batch first to see how they would bake and I was happy with the shape so I continued the process for the rest of the batch.  Though, comparing the inspiration cookies to mine, I may try to make them puffier next time and I’m not sure if I would make them as long. 

As soon as they come out of the oven, you want to immediately stick on the pretzel ears, then the eyes (don’t press down too much or else the chips will melt), and then the  red M&M nose.  So cute and this would be great to do with kids.

And now I know why I gained 2 pounds in a week…ohhhh Christmas cookies!

13 Weeks

You’re probably sick of all the “Weeks” posts, but now I’m officially done with all my saved drafts, so I am actually 13 weeks today.  Last Friday we had our second ultrasound and it was amazing!  Definitely feeling more real now.  The technician was trying to get measurements of the back of Baby C’s head and Baby C refused to cooperate.  It was a good thing, though, because we got to watch Baby C for a good 20 minutes on the screen.  I still can’t get over how quickly a baby grows in such a short period of time.  Baby C was moving its arms up and down and definitely squirming in there, but was being very stubborn to turn how the technician needed.  The stubbornness really made me think it was a boy for some reason, probably because Hubby tends to be very stubborn.  But then of course he said the same thing about me :)   And look at the difference between 6 weeks to 12 weeks:

6 weeks, 6 days – 10/31/11 – It’s a blob!

 

12 weeks, 3 days – 12/9/11 – It’s a baby!

How far along?: 13 weeks

Baby is the size of a: peach! 

Total weight gain/loss:  +5 to 7 pound range

The Bump: Still in the awkward stage 

Symptoms:  Tiredness has gotten better but dizziness has seemed to replace it.  We went to Hubby’s work party on Saturday and we were standing for most of the night around  cocktail tables and I got very dizzy twice – the second time I had to sit down immediately or else I would have blacked out.  Luckily I was okay as soon as I sat down, but it was a little scary. 

Food Cravings:  Sweets…damn Christmas cookies. 

Anything Making Me Queasy or Sick: Nope

Sleep: Much better this week, yay! 

What I miss: Blue cheese…there was a pasta station at the work party and I had to stay away from the blue cheese crumbles.

Weddings Rings On or Off: On

Any Names Picked Out Yet:  Since I have such a strong feeling it’s a boy, I started looking at boys names again in my book a couple nights ago…I think we may have a name we both like - WOW!

Movement: N/A

Maternity Clothes: Bought a ton of stuff this past weekend  - Old Navy was having a great sale.  And I bought some work maternity pants at Target - I LOVE THEM.  I think I’ll be doing a mix of maternity with non-maternity stuff the next few weeks.  I don’t have a lot of long-sleeve shirts to begin with, so I picked some maternity ones up also at Target and those fit me now (which makes me wonder if they’ll fit all the way into the third trimester?  Oh well).  The Old Navy ones look silly without a bigger bump so I’m saving those.

Labor Signs: N/A

Best Moment of the Week:  Announcing it on Facebook and here on my blog!  So good to finally not have a secret anymore.

What I’m excited about/looking forward to: seeing my bump grow…I can totally tell the difference between last week and this week:

And this is what I wore to work yesterday (so I was technically 12 weeks, 6 days but close enough):

When I put that gray sweater on in the AM, I did a double-take in the mirror.  Not like my stomach was flat to begin with, but it’s a huge change compared to the last time I wore this sweater!  And once again…LOVE maternity pants!  Yes, some of my regular pants still fit, but the stretchy panel is fabulous so why not start wearing them early?

12 Weeks

******This post was originally written on 12/6/2011******

Yesterday was the first day that I felt myself getting huggggeee.  And I know I have a long way to go, since I’m not even officially through the first trimester yet, but I was not feeling good about myself.  I was wearing some knit dress pants since those have been the most comfy lately, but by end the of the work day, I was having to roll down the pants below my belly.  I don’t really know how to explain this feeling, but it’s incredibly hard going from being in the best shape of your life to slowly becoming big again.  I know it’s all for a good cause, but it’s really messing with my emotions right now.

We have told just about all of our close friends and family, so we’ll probably be announcing it officially on Facebook this weekend and then I can finally start posting normally here on my blog :)

• How far along?: 12 weeks
• Baby is the size of a: plum 
• Total weight gain/loss:  +5 to 7 pound range
• The Bump: I’m in the awkward stage right now between looking extra chubby and having a bump
• Symptoms:  Still tired.  I took a nap in my car during lunch earlier this week.  Everyone keeps telling me I should feel better this week or next week.  Here’s hoping!
• Food Cravings:  Grilled cheese and ham…Hubby just made me one!  And I’m trying to convince him to make me another ;) 
• Anything Making Me Queasy or Sick: Nope
• Sleep: Ugh sleeping at night has been so off this week…I’ve been trying to compensate with naps but it doesn’t help 
• What I miss: nothing specific this week 
• Weddings Rings On or Off: On
• Any Names Picked Out Yet:  Nothing new to report
• Movement: N/A
• Maternity Clothes: Wore the jeans the first time last weekend…and it look like I’ll be wearing them here on out.  No need for shirts yet, though.
• Labor Signs: N/A
• Best Moment of the Week:  So many!  The crib and changing table got delivered (we got a great deal on Black Friday that we couldn’t pass up), we told good friends this week that are so excited for us, and a couple other good friends had their baby girl a couple days ago.
• What I’m excited about/looking forward to:  Ultrasound = tomorrow afternoon!  Hoping for a good picture because I need it for our Christmas card design!

Comparing 6 weeks to 12 weeks:

 

Well, the bump is slowly getting there – def in the awkward “I’ve ate too many cookies” stage, though.