The Beach! (times two!)

**Sooooo I just realized I never posted this from back in July. Whoops!...better late than never! :)

Curt and I were able to go home to Virginia for almost 3 weeks at the beginning of July.  It was awesome to have so much time to spend with friends and family from Virginia.  One of the best parts was that we got to spend two weeks at the beach!  One week with my family and one week with Curt's family.

Some fun memories:  4th of July at the river, digging to China with our nephew, listening to our niece laugh little baby giggles, sharing our baby news in person with friends and family, staying up late playing cards, sailboating and paddleboating with the Kenneys, amazing handmade green shirts :), celebrating our nephew's 4th birthday...

4th of July cake!

River cruisin' on the boat

Love these people :)

He's going to be such a good daddy :)

Ben LOVED his goggles.  It was hilarious.

Crazy sunscreen hair

Cuties

More cuties

 

Playing cards on the beach

Mary Ellen was fearless on the beach and loved the water.

 Loungin' baby

Curt and Ben's expressions in this picture crack me up

Digging to China

Ben's birthday!  Bubbles!

We were having too much fun with the Kenneys to take any pictures.  Actually...our camera had been left behind :(  We had lots of fun with them, but just don't have the pictures to prove it.

39 Weeks

I am officially 39 weeks today.  I haven't done a very good job of documenting my pregnancy, neither through the blog nor a personal journal.  That makes me a little sad because I know I will want to look back and think about what it was like after the baby is here.   So here's my last ditch attempt to remember a few things about this experience.

-  I feel better than I thought I would at this point.  I always imagined myself feeling a little like Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when I was 9 months pregnant.  While there are moments of discomfort (tying my shoes, trying to get out of the bed, etc.), I feel pretty good for the most part.

- The baby has one certain way that she likes to stretch all the time.  She shoves her feet out on my right side and sticks her butt out in the front.  It makes my belly look insane.

- During pregnancy your sinuses swell and Curt says I've been snoring lately.  Sorry babe!

- Speaking of snoring, sleep is still going pretty well.  I surround myself with lots of pillows and am able to get pretty comfortable.  The only hard part is getting up to pee 10 times a night.  Also - trying to get up out of the bed without the use of your stomach muscles is almost impossible.

- It is also impossible for me to say no to anything involving chocolate, ice cream, peanut butter, or anything else unhealthy.  I could eat nothing but sweets all day long.

- I'm still working.  I basically told my principal that I would work until Jan. 11th (the day after my due date).  I realize this sounds crazy to some people, but I actually like my job and I think I would go insane just sitting at home all day.  The kids are also hilarious about the baby.  They ask if they can see it every day.  They also try to eat a lot at lunch so they can have a big belly like Mrs. Kenney.  Too cute.

- Waking up in the morning gets harder every day.  Saturdays are amazing.

- Pretty much the only pants that are comfortable anymore are sweatpants and maternity leggings.  That's it.

- No stretch marks yet...keeping my fingers crossed!

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year!   I thought about doing a post about our new year's eve....but frankly, it was pretty boring.  Then I thought about doing a 2012 recap post, but I was too tired.  Then I thought about doing a post about all the awesome and amazing things we are going to do and accomplish in 2013...but to be honest, I have no idea what 2013 will hold for us.  I know it will be new and exciting...but that's about it!

So, I have instead decided to share a simple recipe with you.  For our new year's eve Curt and I decided that we were in the mood to have a bunch of small plates instead of one big meal (also known as "apps and zerts" if you are a Tom Haverford fan).  That way we could snack and just hang out and get to eat a lot of different things.  It was great!

Here was one of our favorites.

They are called Pear Pancetta Crisps with Goat Cheese and Honey and the flavor combination is amazing.  Also, they are super easy to make.  Win!  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 12 thin slices of pancetta (about 1/3 lb.)
- 2 Bartlett pears
- 1/2 (4 oz.) package goat cheese, crumbled
- Freshly cracked pepper
- Honey

Directions:
1.  Arrange pancetta slices in a single layer on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a paper towel-lined wire rack using a spatula. Let stand 10 minutes or until crisp.

2. Core pears with an apple corer. Cut pears crosswise into 12 thin rings*. Arrange on a serving platter. Top evenly with pancetta and goat cheese; sprinkle with pepper. Drizzle with honey just before serving.

*If you don't plan to serve right away, put the pear slices into a lemon water bath to keep from turning brown.

 That's it!  The easiest and most delicious appetizer ever!

Also, I'm sure this would pair really well with some white wine or champagne....but since I'm pregnant we drank it with this:

Seriously...most delicious sparkling grape juice around (and of course it's from Trader Joe's).

Happy New Year!

Christmas in MA

Since the baby is due any day now, we weren't able to travel home to Virginia for the holidays.  A lot of people asked me if we were sad about that.   That was a tough question to answer.  Sure, I was sad that we weren't going to see our friends and families....but I was also really happy that we didn't have to brave the chaos of traveling during the holidays.  We had the most wonderful, quiet Christmas up here in Massachusetts and I wouldn't have had it any other way.  It's comforting to know that we'll see our families soon when the baby arrives.  It was also really nice to have about two weeks to hang out, just Curt and me, before we become a family of three.

 Our Christmas Eve dinner....lobster!  Complete with preggo-friendly sparkling pomegranate juice :)

 Our cozy "fire"

 Confession:  I LOVE decorating for Christmas.  I am also secretly glad that my baby is due in early January because it gives me an extra excuse to leave my decorations up a little longer :)

 Christmas morning - Curt opening his stocking

 Skyping with the fam....yes, that is our "fireplace" in the background.

 

 37.5 weeks!

 We even got a little snow on Christmas day!

Curt's baby owner's manual...bahaha.

Curt's 30th Birthday

Curt turned the big 3-0 on December 14th.  He was in the middle of finals week then, so we decided to wait and celebrate after he was done.  I surprised him with tickets to a Celtics game with some of our friends and dinner beforehand at Sunset Grill (a place in the city we had been wanting to try for a while).  We had such a great time and it was so fun to surprise him.

 birthday card to Curt "Amazing" (nickname coined by our nephew)

 All the goods!

 

 Surprise!  We are heading to a Celtics game in 20 minutes!

 The biggest plate of nachos I've ever seen

 Cameron's expression in this pic cracks me up...

 Beer sampler

 Our dinner crew at Sunset Grill

 The game!

 Celtics won!

 Fun group of friends...thanks again for celebrating with us!

Thanksgiving in Richmond

We had a great time in Richmond celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I was so happy that we were able to come home.  We were able to do so many fun things and see many people we love.  Here are some pictures:

Our first stop the morning after we got into town was to Ben's school to see his Thanksgiving program.  It was so cute!  Ben goes to the same preschool I went to and they used to do the same program when I was there!

On Thanksgiving we always start our morning by heading to the Turkey Bowl.  This is essentially a yearly high school reunion for my parents.  There's football, oysters, beer, dogs, and lots of people we love!

 

Ti and me...friends since kindergarten!!

 

 Sisters!

 After the Turkey Bowl, we headed back home to fry our turkey.  My brother-in-law built this amazing contraption...it was awesome!

 Sooo yummy!

On Friday we got together with some of our best family friends and painted a picture at Wine & Design.  I couldn't drink any wine...but I sure had a lot of fun!  Thanks again Sanyours!!

On Saturday my sisters, mom, and friends from high school threw us a baby shower.  It was so fun to celebrate our baby girl with so many wonderful people.

 The wonderful hostesses!

Sisters!

Saturday night we went out to celebrate Lolly's engagement...so much fun!

 Finally, we took some family pictures before we left for the airport.  You may recognize one from our Christmas card.  :)