anniversaries, babies and & other such things

Collin and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on Monday, and I have to say how deliriously happy I am! Life is good. Nay, God is good! It's a great testament to His love for me, that He would find it fitting to create such an absolutely amazing man intended just for me! We didn't really do anything "special," in fact I spent a good chunk of the day picking a sick Moira up from school and in the Pediatrician's office to confirm strep throat was the culprit, but I just couldn't be happier with my life. I made a dinner of Beef Stroganoff and cherry cream cheese coffee cake for dessert, and enjoyed sharing it with our lovely kiddos and watching a romantic comedy once they were tucked away in bed. We plan to go out one night this weekend for a nice dinner, assuming I can line up a babysitter. Thanks Mom & Dad for funding an anniversary date night yet again!


In other news, I visited my OB this morning for a routine check up and glucose test (which tests for gestational diabetes) and all went well. My blood sugar levels were great, and my iron level was rather good, even for a non-pregnant person. (It must be all that yummy broccoli and spinach I've been eating!) I fortunately only gained another couple pounds, making the grand total 9 pounds at 24 weeks, even though my appetite has increased a bit since last month. The most shocking thing for me and my OB both was my fundal (tummy or uterine) measurement though! The average pregnant women is typically 1 cm per week of pregnancy - meaning that at 24 weeks an average measurement for me today would have been 24 cm... well, I measured 31 cm!!! Dr. Callison just looked at me with wide eyes and said "oh man, you're going to have a big baby!" So, we'll see. The good news from all this is that she stated she might like to get me in for another ultrasound toward the end to measure this not-so-little one's growth - which would be another fun opportunity to see our little girl again! The concern here is what my OB is going to say if she ends up being over 9 lbs. In fact, the nurse mentioned to me that I could just schedule a c-section since it looks like this baby is going to be big. I thanked her but said I'd rather try to do it naturally before resorting to surgery. My body has proven that it can push out an almost 9 pounder, I'm just starting to fret a teeny bit about what will happen if the bun is much larger than that. (Perhaps we should change her nickname to the loaf, instead of the bun?!) So, prayers over this developing issue would be very much appreciated!


Finally, I thought I'd take a moment to show off my newest work of art! ;-) Here is the baby blanket intended for little Nora, my dear friend Leslie's firstborn. I just finished it this last weekend, and need to get it in the mail before any more time passes! I'm just so smitten with this particular pattern, that I foresee a possible remaking of this one for our little girl. There are several other baby knitting projects in the works too, so I'll be sure to post some on those as they come along.

Well, that's about all for now. Thanks for popping by!

Valentine's Day Visit

We had a great Valentine's weekend with a visit from Stephen and Dara! They came up Friday afternoon, and we mostly just spent the time enjoying our few days together, but we did go out for a yummy sushi dinner Saturday night, and were also thoroughly spoiled by our dear friends! Here are the details, in a few pictures.

Last year I received a Mickey quilt kit from a friend for Ian's new Mickey-themed room. It was so cute and I really wanted to make it, but I have not one sewing bone in my body, so I shelved the project for a while. When we moved to Alabama, I showed the kit to my sweet, sewing friend Dara, who took the project on right away for my little guy! Here she is working away at the sweet little quilt for him. Such a good friend, and "Aunt" too!

Dara finished the quilt just in time to bring it up with her this weekend. Here's my happy, little guy after being presented with such a sweet labor of love! He absolutely loves the quilt, and has slept with it every night since - I think he has a new favorite blankie! :)

Oh, and that's not all - Dara made us a beautiful throw that she crocheted all by herself for us! It's warm, cozy and the perfect colorway to help tie in the other blues in our house to the living room. Another very thoughtful labor-of-love from one crocheter to another!

We also made a trip to Babies R Us. You know we girls have to discuss all these baby plans, and the guys were good enough to come along and entertain the kids while we talked about baby bedding and such things! Oh, and there was more spoiling to be done too, as they very generously insisted on picked up the swing and diaper bag we had registered for!! I know, I know... how did we luck out with such thoughtful, caring and fun friends?! God is good.

Here's another recent belly pic (at 22 weeks) that Dara couldn't help but sneak in! ;-)

And finally, our two little love bugs. Dara wouldn't dream of "leaving Moira out" and showing up empty-handed for our little girl, so she lovingly made her the scarf you can (kinda) see around her neck - cute huh? She's worn it to school every day this week, even though it's in the low 60s today! :)

We had such a wonderful time with our friends, and continually feel the blessings God has showered us with in bringing our lives together. We've been so lucky to enjoy so many weekend visits together, that I have no idea at all what I'm going to do when Dara deploys again this Fall or when their tour in Florida is up *gasp* after that. I better start praying now... :)

Saving Spaghetti Night

If you're like me, you have certain meals you make for dinner on a regular basis. They're usually easy, don't cost too much to make, and the family loves them, right? Well, spaghetti is one of those for us... the kid's love it, but lately it's been a bit of a drag for my man. So in my attempts to appease everyone - my bread-lovin' hubby included - I tried this new recipe last night as a side:

What? Why yes, that is homemade bread. And yes, it does taste as fabulous as it looks! Well... no, there aren't any leftovers today.

Believe it or not, the recipe made two of these giant loaves, so we spread the joy with our fine neighbors, who also happened to be dining on spaghetti last night. In the future I might cut the recipe in half, or go ahead and make the two loaves, with one intended for the freezer. All in all, I think my first attempt at bread making went rather well, if I do say so myself. Oh, and this would not have been at all possible if my sweet guy hadn't splurged for Christmas on the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer I've been coveting for the last three years. Spaghetti night lives on in the McCann household!

***

Italian Braided Bread

dough mixture

• 2 cups warm water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 Tbsp yeast
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp salt (mix these ingredients before adding flour)
• 6-8 cups all-purpose flour (add 6 cups, then add additional flour until it no longer sticks to the side of the bowl)

cheesy butter coating

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp Basil
• 1 tsp Garlic salt

Directions

1. Add dough ingredients into mixer
2. Mix and add flour until flour no longer sticks to sides of bowl
3. Let dough rise in mixer bowl for 1 hour (I covered the bowl)
4. Divide risen dough into 6 "snakes"
5. Dip "snakes" into cheesy butter coating
6. Braid 3 "snakes" into a loaf and repeat with the remaining 3.
7. Let braided loaf rise 1 more hour (I covered again)
8. Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes

Courtesy of my dear friend Diane - thanks for saving Spaghetti night! :)

1st Day of Preschool

Today was Ian's very first day of preschool! I was so proud of our little guy, and how well he handled all the new stuff. There was not one tear when I dropped him off this morning, and he was all smiles when I picked him up this afternoon! I think it all might've been harder on Mom!! Today they learned about groundhogs for Groundhog Day and made "groundhog grub" (a snack mix) together, he went in the potty at school with no accidents, and he was working on tracing the letter "p" when I arrived to pick him up - all in all, I'd say quite a successful day! He couldn't wait to get on the phone with Daddy and Grammy to tell them all about his first day. I'm glad I had Bible study for a couple of hours this morning, because it's going to take some getting used to not having him around all day, every day. After Bible study I talked to my Mom on the phone - uninterrupted! - with my coffee at Starbucks, and had a free hour to browse around a baby boutique that I'd been wanting to visit.

Here's my little guy arriving at school and meeting his new teachers and friends (with a new haircut we're trying out!)

Here he is getting into the morning activity before I left - isn't he sweet?!