Welcome Brittny and Theresa!

This weekend I expanded my blog readership by 100%, adding Brittny and Theresa to the list of authorized readers.  I hope this site can handle the increased traffic.  :-)

I met these two on The Knot shortly after I got married SIX YEARS AGO.  They were both bloggers and so was I, and eventually we started following each others blogs and became friends through that forum.  We evolved into emailing which is our primary means of communication now.  However, it feels like so much more than just email.  First of all, we email multiple times a week, so it's a pretty active email frequency.  Plus, we text and occasionally talk on the phone.  Most importantly, we put time into our friendship.  Although we only see each other about once a year, we invest a lot of time and emotions into staying friends. 

I have long since abandoned the blog I kept as a newlywed, but now I'm out of retirement and am blogging about the new stage of my life.  I'm not sure how much they will follow this blog, as they already get frequent emails from me.  But since this is how we met, it seems fitting for them to be followers.

So, welcome Brittny and Theresa.  I love you two!

Below are some pics of us.  They are in chronological order.  I believe the first time the three of us got together was in January of 2007.  We have gotten together every year since.  Once for Theresa's wedding in Rochester New York and most recently for my baby shower.

Six years

Tomorrow is our anniversary and will mark 6 years since we took the plunge into married life. How fitting that I came across this picture today. It was taken on the day that we got engaged (April 8, 2005). I love you Forrest Lane. You are the best thing that ever happened to me.

Football season is back

I'm so glad that the 2011 football season has officially started, which means the nail is in the coffin on 2010's season. Technically the nail was in the coffin on Thanksgiving of 2010 when we didn't qualify for a bowl game, but the hangover lingered most of the offseason and there's no cure like getting back in the saddle (and winning some games!). Proudly, we are 2-0. Although one of those wins was over Rice, the other was over BYU, not a ranked team but still a worthy opponent and I was pleased with how our young team played.

That first paragraph was really a farce - my whole point in making this post about football is so that I could upload this really cute maternity tee that I saw on sale at the Co-Op. It's my first go at uploading a pic, but it's a skill I absolutely must master if I'm going to be a successful blogger. So....*deep breath*.....here goes.

32ish week sonogram

This sonogram was so boring, so I would skip this post if I were you. I just want a log of the event. We had the sonogram on September 13, 2011. I was at 31 weeks 5 days gestation at the time. It was our third sonogram at Dr. Gorski's office (to be distinguished from all of the ones I got at Dr. K's office during the first 12 weeks). Our first sonogram was around 23 weeks and it was fantastic. We loved seeing the babies and Forrest thinks he got a glimpse of their gender parts (although he has kept his opinions to himself). We did another sonogram at 28 weeks and were pretty underwhelmed by the footage. Don't get me wrong, it's so encouraging to see that the babies look good and are roughly the same size, but once it gets too crowded it's hard to really "see" anything meaningful. We found this to be true for the 32ish week sonogram too. I was actually pretty surprised that Forrest agreed to go with me to this one. I believe he will skip the next few ones. Anyways, Baby A (on my left side) is measuring about 3.25 pounds and a little under 31 weeks gestation. Baby B is measuring 3.75 pounds and a little over 31 weeks gestation.

Fast Forward to the Third Trimester

Third Trimester! It's here and it's (hopefully) not going anywhere any time soon. So much has happened since my last update (12 whole weeks ago). I went through a blissful stage of pregnancy in which I was relatively comfortable and at a "nice size" for most people's tastes. People treat pregnant ladies so well and it's something I'm really enjoying. I'm quickly growing to a size that is no longer "nice", as most people get a little squeamish once women get to a certain level of bigness. I might be there already and just in denial, but hopefully I'm still not stopping people in their tracks. The discomfort of the third trimester seems to be settling in. My biggest complaint is the back pain. The afternoons seem to be the worst for me if I'm in the office, as I've already been sitting for several hours. However, I"m now working half days, so I get to lie on the couch for those afternoon and evening hours. That does me a world of good. The doctor keeps threatening me with bedrest, but so far I'm still able to get out and about. Unfortunately at my 31 week appointment I got a positive result on the FFN test, which indicates that I'm at increased risk for preterm labor. As a precaution my doctor ordered two rounds of steroid injections, in order to expedite the babies' development. Although that was initially frightening to me, I've gotten a lot of peace about it since and am not overly worried that the babies will come early. If that happens then they will be fine. If it doesn't then they'll be even better. Both are good outcomes and I know it's in God's hands. He's provided for the babies this whole pregnancy and he's given me comfort that he intends to continue doing so. I keep telling him that the babies need me so I need to delay labor as long as possible, but he keeps reminding me that they need him and that he'll time their arrival appropriately. So, in the meantime I'm just trying to treat myself as well as I can and wait out the last remaining weeks of the pregnancy. I was blessed to have three baby showers. Yes - THREE. I am so spoiled and I can hardly stand it.....but I managed to find a way to enjoy this blessing (times 3!). The first shower was hosted by several hometown friends (Mollie McCune, Kristin Rodefeld, Sharon Hagen, Patty Froehlich, Patty Braselton, and Jan Elwell) and it was fantastic by anyone's standards (even Kim Kardashian would have been impressed with this shower). The decor blew me away, the food was excellent, and the guests were obscenely generous. The gifts filled our baby room and it has taken weeks to sort through them all and organize them (a task we're gladly performing - it's so much fun!). Sherri Henry and Susan Brown hosted a Sunday School class shower for me and it also far exceeded my expectations. About 15 women showed up and, again, spent way too much money on us. The most fun part of that shower was hearing all of the advice from the fellow mothers there. They are going to be such a huge support group for me once the babies come. They are my dear friends. Several ladies up at work through a group shower for Stephanie Toups, Bianca LeBlanc, Carolina Price, and me. We're all due this fall and we've had so much fun being pregnant together. They through a "storybook" shower and asked that the guests not bring gifts, but instead bring a children's book for us. The food and decor were also fantastic at this shower. Now we have about 30 children's books to start our collection. Like I said.....spoiled rotten!

20 weeks

I am 20 weeks and 3 days into the pregnancy, which means I have passed the halfway point. Presumably I won't carry Poppy and Pepe longer than 40 weeks (at least not without setting a new record).

Fortunately the morning sickness is gone! Unfortunately the back and rib pain is here and I suspect it's here to stay.

I'm not really slowing down yet, which is a positive. I did a lot of travel last week and I'm doing it this week too, but after that I don't have a lot on the calendar.

We had a fantastic vacation to Fort Morgan (Gulf Shores) Alabama. We spent a lot of time laying on the beach and being lazy. Oh, and I ate WAY too much fried shrimp. I need to start watching my diet before I blow up!

Lemon bars

We're headed over to Sherrie and Joe's tonight for a grill out (although I most certainly will be staying inside - HOT out there!). I am bringing dessert and I just made lemon bars. I talked to my mom this morning and told her I was going to make them, which she confirmed was a good idea for a summer dessert. Then I told her that I'd just grab a box mix for it, and she was adamant that I make them from scratch (she's that kind of mother, but in this case she was right). She said "make Judy Cox's recipe.....it's way better than the box mix and it's really easy. You'll find it in the church cookook."

The church cookbook is a pretty special thing. "The church" refers to the church I grew up in. It was the church's first effort at the cookbook and was compiled in the late 80's (with my mother being on the "Church Cookbok committee"). For the record, they have published newer editions since, but they aren't really new editions, they are entirely different cookbooks and they're not near as good as the original cookbook. It's pretty extensive and is the source of many of our favorite recipes. I received 3 as wedding gifts, which were all unnecessary because my mother had bought me one when I went off to college. Yes, our church still publishes and sells these relics and the "ladies" of the church all know how special and wonderful it is. Another reason it's important is that all of my mom's family recipes are in that book. Chances are if I ask her how to make her mother's cinnamon rolls, overnight salad, homemade bread, whatever.....she'll say "check the church cookbook."

So, it was no surprise to me when she said "make Judy Cox's recipe..." I knew what words would come next.

I made it and it was totally easy and fool proof, and sure enough they are wonderful. My mother is often right (more than I thought!).