Baby Shower!

*will update with photos once I figure out how to get them off our new camera!*

One of my dearest friends, Tiffany, and her husband, Kevin came down last weekend and blessed us SOO abundantly!! Tiffany threw the loveliest baby shower for me...it was such a special day with sweet friends celebrating baby Sophia Grace's awaited arrival. The Lord even gave us SNOW during the shower - we were all inside drinking cozy tea watching the beautiful snowflakes come down. I couldn't have imagined a more fun day! I have such wonderful, generous friends...I couldn't wait to show Eric all the sweet gifts baby Sophia received! We are both overwhelmed by how the Lord, family, and friends have provided for us and our baby girl.

Meanwhile, while we were busy eating delicious finger food and sipping tea, Kevin (& Eric as support) :) was busy at our house painting the baby room for us!! Ah, what a guy! We had mentioned to them how much we loathe painting (dislike in the extremest form!) and how terrible we are at it even if we didn't hate it so much....well Kevin cheerfully volunteered to take care of it for us as a baby gift! AMAZING!

We had SUCH a fun weekend hanging out with Kevin & Tiff...sooo glad they made the drive down to visit us! They taught us a fun new game, Monopoly cards, and we stuffed our bellies as we do best! Mellow Mushroom pizza, mexican cornbread, pirate's booty, kettle corn from the Farmer's Market, all of it was sooo good. AND Tiffany stocked our freezer so we have some meals ready for us after the baby comes! She takes the word "friendship" to a new level - thank you so much Tiffany!! We love you guys! xoxo

Pregnancy at 30 weeks

Jessica Munting Tsuchiya is an amazing photographer! While I was in Seattle, she graciously took some pics of my pregnant belly and then did her magic to make them look good. :) I am so happy to have such a special time documented. Thank you again, Jess!

Seattle!

Ahh...Seattle. The city that holds one of my favorite people on the planet...my beloved sister!! I went out to visit Katie, John, & Luca right before Thanksgiving and had a marvelous time with everyone. I even got to see my Dad! He was visiting them to help after Luca's surgery and our visits overlapped one day...it was very special!

We took walks, drank tea, cooked yummy food (pasta bolognese one day, potatoes au gratin another day) and of course no visit to Seattle is quite complete until there is an almond croissant involved. :) Yum yum yum. Oh and this year Katie took me to a little German grocery/deli and we got fresh pretzel rolls, Gouda cheese, and Christmas spice cookies!! It was such a treat!!

This visit was also unique in that Katie LOADED me with amazing baby items to use when baby Sophia Grace arrives! Let me put it this way...I checked a suitcase on my way home (nothing I came with went in there) and it weighed 49.9 pounds. We hit up a really fun consignment store, Katie had already stocked up on sweet girl clothes/shoes, and she is graciously letting us borrow some of Luca's items that he isn't using anymore (pack n' play, nursing pump, bath wraps, onesies, and on and on). Even Katie's friends blessed us with a beautiful diaper bag, preggo pics (another post coming on this one), and swaddling blanket - Thank you Jess & Alicia!

One of my favorite take-aways from the visit is Luca's obsession with my belly button (which is doing funky things as it stretches!) and big belly being called "Phia" (short for Sophia). Apparently he has continued to call Katie's belly (FLAT belly) Phia as well so maybe we confused the poor guy on what exactly is going on. Either he thinks every girl is pregnant with a baby Sophia in there or Phia is the new word for belly. :) In any case, his little voice couldn't be sweeter as he says his cousin's name. Can't wait for them to meet, hopefully one day soon.

Katie, how did we get so few photos together?? Happens every time...too busy enjoying every moment spending time with you! Love you!!

Michigan visit

Well once again, I don't know where to start. So much happens so quickly, I fall behind in the blogging world, and feel defeated to ever catch up...it's cyclical. But then I decide to not go down without a fight! so here I am, trying to document the past two months. Let's see where it takes us...

During mid-October, I had the pleasure and privilege to go visit Chris in his new med-school world...which happens to be in East Lansing, MI (at MSU). It was so much fun!!! The weather was GORGEOUS, fall leaves at their peak, and we found the perfect balance of activity and rest. On Saturday, we went to an apple orchard where they had fresh donuts and apple cider (groan! so so good), a fun corn maize, and fruit flinging. What is fruit flinging you might ask? Well take an old, bruised apple and fling it at a target...voila. I watched this event (which happened to be the most popular activity among the crowds) and it was more fun than I anticipated! We also made a bunch of meals for Chris to eat throughout the week and now he has beef stew & chicken casserole added to his cooking repertoire! Periodic rest was welcomed as I had many braxton-hicks contractions throughout the weekend...they created the perfect opportunity to lay down, take a walk, watch some "Office" reruns, while Chris dutifully studied and kept up with his class work. It was very cool to see him so acclimated, getting the rhythm of med school down in order to be successful...makes me proud of him! Keep up the good work, Chris! Thanks for such a great visit!!

Here is Chris, fruit flinging those apples! Notice the face guard, this is a dangerous sport, people!

The orchard building that had doughnuts and cider...look at what a beautiful day it was!

At the start of our corn maize...first one I had ever been in! :)

Chris with meals for the week - way to go! :)