BABY SHOWER!

I had the BEST baby shower thanks to my wonderful mother and best friend Megan!

Here are a few snapshots of that day!

Amazing cupcakes!

Amazing friends

Delicious food!


Presents!


Wonderful mother and mother-in-law

booby class....

I went to a breastfeeding class today. I won't get into much detail about that or I may get in trouble. It was really amazing being reminded of how incredible God has made our bodies. For instance - I learned that if you lay your baby against your body, your own body heat will regulate your baby's body temperature. And if the baby starts to get too warm, your body cuts back on the heat it's emitting! How incredible. I wanted to stand up in my chair and say "People! How can you not believe in an intelligent, loving, creating God?!" But then I would forever be known as "the crazy lady from booby class."

Prayer is good....

I spent some time in prayer tonight for The Sound. It's amazing to me how we can go for so long without it. I pray everyday. In my car, in the shower, while I'm folding laundry. But I never make time to REALLY pray. To go in my room, lock the door and not look at the clock. Just pray until I'm done....or until God's done. I am amazed at the peace and relief I feel right now....how can I not want that feeling all the time? Prayer is awesome and I plan on having more of these moments from now on.

Blogging chef

I just watched the movie "Julie and Julia". I am the type of person to watch something interesting and then decide it's something I want to pursue. I watched "The Cutting Edge" when I was little and decided I wanted to be an ice skater. I had never been ice skating before but I was sure I would learn quickly and be in the olympics one day. I even drew up a floor plan for the barn I was going to turn into an ice skating rink (just like the movie :) ). Well, the ice skating thing didn't work out for me. That's ok.

So of course tonight when I watch a movie about a chef who blogged it inspired me to want to start doing 2 things....

Now I can check thing number 1 off my list since I'm doing it right now. I also got out my Sandra Lee cookbook and make a grocery list for a wonderful week of food consumption.

On the menu:

Angel Hair w/ a Rose Cream sauce

Lemon Tilapia

Grilled Veggies with Saffron Rice

AND a Soy Mocha Smoothy that I am really excited about

I was also going to try a Lime Souffle, but I think I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit! I'll try that next week.

I will try to post some pictures of these creations if they turn out well!

Yum Yum Time

I thought I would give you all a gift today...my favorite dessert recipe. Three reasons why this is my favorite recipe. 1) Biscotti is Italian. 2) It tastes amazing. 3) Each biscotto (a biscotto is a singular biscotti) only has about 80 calories....thank you Jesus!

P.S. My cooking tip...I always add more flour after all the ingredients are mixed together because I find the dough too sticky to really handle. Adding more flour has never messed with the yumminess for me!

Chocolate Cherry Biscotti

Yield: 40 biscotti (serving size: 1 biscotto)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 2/3 cup dried tart cherries
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flours and salt in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Beat sugar and eggs with a mixer at high speed until thick and pale (about 4 minutes). Add oil and extracts, beating until well-blended. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in cherries and chocolate chips.

Divide dough in half; turn out onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Shape each portion into a 10-inch-long roll, and flatten to 1-inch thickness. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove rolls from the baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

Cut each roll diagonally into 20 (1/2-inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over, and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire rack.

Firsts....

The first clothing item we bought Abrielle.















Rog and I went to build-a-bear and made her first Teddy. We got her a "birth certificate" and so we had to name her...Buttercup. Then my mom bought us the record book to keep all of Abrielle's "firsts". I'm excited to start filling that out!

This last first is for Rebekah Butterfield. I just want her to realize what is coming down the road for her. I'll call this my first emotional breakdown over food.
I came home and had just bought all of these yummy groceries from Trader Joe's - my new fav place to shop. I wanted to make Roger a delicious turkey sandwich on ciabatta bread. It was going to be scrumptious. But he said he wanted a steak and cheese. I said "no I really want to make you a turkey sandwich." He said "babe I really want a steak and cheese. I'll make it myself." After another minute or so of going back and forth it happened....I started crying. I just wanted to make him a turkey sandwich people. Is that so wrong?

My Belly....

^ This is the day after we found out!

Well I promised Megan I would post some belly pictures since I have gotten huge lately!

I am embracing the gaining weight thing. Since I was chubby as a little girl I thought it would be really hard to start gaining so much weight...but it's been fun actually! I don't eat like a cow even though everyone in the world says "You're eating for two, eat whatever you want." That is a bunch of poo. Plus you want to eat healthy because you ARE feeding your baby! Anyways, in these pics I kind of just look like I love ice cream. I think in the next two weeks or so my belly will finally be round! :)

This is about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I'm a lot bigger now, but no one is home to take my pic!

I don't know when this was but I look huge!!!!!

What I have done whilst being snowed in.

Well, it is now day 4 that I have been inside my apartment. Our parking lot is a MESS. Roger and I spent a lot of time today watching people try to leave this place. That's why we decided if we don't HAVE to go out...then we won't. We saw a camero get stuck, a van come to pull them out, then the van got stuck. I think today cabin fever hit me. I was moody and weepy and weird. I have watched at least 5 movies or more since we've been snowed eat. I ate. I did exercise a little bit. I ate. I read a magazine. I slept. Today I tried to practice guitar and piano but because of the whole moody weepy weird thing that didn't go very well. I guess this snow has made me realize that having a job, going out with friends, going to church keeps us sane. Relationships and sunshine are a very good thing.
Here's Rog conquering our parking space.....

My body is not my own...

It's so weird how I feel pregnant....and then at the same time I don't. I can't feel the baby move yet, my stomach isn't a round prego shape as much as it is a "she overdid it at Christmas" shape. But then on the flip side all these other crazy things happen. I get sharp pains here and there (they tell me it's ligaments stretching), certain smells still bother me, super picky about what I eat now which has never happened in my life before! It used to be I'd eat whatever was in front of me. And then the best of all, slowly but surely losing bladder control. My body is not my own! But I've decided loaning it out for 9 months is ok with me!

New Years Resolution...

Once again I'm going to attempt to blog. The good news is now I feel like I have something interesting to blog about. The baby!!! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it for once in my life!

This holiday season has been wonderful. Christmas eve and Christmas day with family. Spent a day with my best friends. Got to go to South Carolina for an amazing wedding and stayed in a hotel. I absolutely love hotels. Even though we were there for 2 nights it felt like mini vacation. (Thank you Sonya!) Now we are in Va Beach with Danny Analisa and Piper. We're going to sing at their church tomorrow morning - that will be fun! My favorite thing about Piper is her Piper language. Here's what I've learned so far.

Pipoo = Piper

Bogoo = Roger

Wagoo = Water

Seesa = Me

Shu Shu = Cereal

Mee Moo = No More

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba = words to Baa Baa Black Sheep

1,000 Beach Days

"One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches." Psalm 84:10 MSG

I love going on vacation. Normally a few days before we have to come home from vacation I get really sad - then on the last day I might tear up a little bit.

And why wouldn't I? Beautiful water, puffy clouds, blue sky, palm trees, white sand, light breeze. I could live like that for 1,000 days. And this scripture says that ONE day with God is better than that. This is the kind of scripture that changes your attitude. It makes you realize that life might be hard sometimes, being a christian might be challenging, but once we're with Jesus, everything will be worth it!

Favorite moment of today....

I know I always say this, but I'm going to really try to start blogging again. :)

Anyways, my favorite moment of today so far was when Analisa, Piper and me went to meet my mom and gram at Chick-fil-a. Piper was talking a lot so we tried to see how many words we could get her to say.

"Piper say Pam."

"Peem."

"Good job! Now Piper say Myrtle."

"Two."

So adorable.

Yoga

I am back! We had an amaaaazing time in Florida. My parents are "the bomb". I'm so thankful for them taking us on that wonderful trip to see Mickey Mouse. I felt so relaxed the night we came home. Then the next day it hit me. The overwhelming anxiety of life and bills and budgeting and busyness. I couldn't believe how anxious I was! So I am doing a few things differently to try and kick this anxiety habit I have somehow formed.

The first thing is spending time with God FIRST thing in the morning. My day goes so much differently when I put God first, spend time in His word and prayer. I prayed for longer than I have in a long time yesterday and the joy and peace and energy I had afterward was amazing. I always wonder how I can KNOW that prayer changes my life and then forget to do it so often.

The other thing I'm trying is Yoga. I've noticed that I get into bed at night and I will be grinding my teeth together because that's how tense I am. So I picked a yoga show out on Netflix and said to myself, "If there's anything weird I'll just turn it off." So I did the whole thing. It was so nice and relaxing - just breathing and stretching. It felt great. Then at the very end the host said, "My divine inner light salutes your divine inner light." Weird.

Cereal

I love cereal. Yesterday I had two bowls before 11am. Then while I watched "Saved by the bell" and "That's so Raven" I had another mug full. A combination of Apple Jacks and Captain Crunch with Berries. So I decided to make a list of my top 3 favorite cereals of all time.

3. Reece's Peanut Butter Balls or whatever they're called

2. Smores (oh yes)

1. Oh's

Nashvegas

Well we are in Nashville again. The last time we were in Nashville was around the time I started blogging. I said I would be consistent with it...I have not been. Oh well!

It has been a really fun trip so far. The singing aspect seems to be going much better than last time. I have problems with over-thinking what I'm singing....I seem to be getting over that.

I feel very blah today. I'm not quite sure why. I feel like have no mood. I can't describe my mood so I'll show you.

How about that double chin action! Woo! The signs of being almost 25! We went to the gym last night and I ran/jogged/walked 1.5 miles. I'm training for a 5k! I'm so excited. I've never done anything remotely athletic like that before. I'm rambling. Well, I'll call it quits for now. Hopefully my next blog will be interesting and stick with one topic at a time.

We just got back a few days ago from around 10 days of travel. Myrtle Beach with Rog's family and then 2 concerts in Indiana. It was a really great week. Here's what I took away from the beach:

The waves there are not super high. I bet nothing like California or Australia. Those waves in Myrtle Beach are like the pinky toe nail of what God is capable of. I mean Tornados, Hurricanes, Lightening. Those waves are tiny. But I could barely stand up in them. They tossed me and spun me and hit me and flipped me. In them I felt totally out of control. If those tiny waves that I can't even stand in are just the pinky toe nail of what God can do, then why is it so hard for me to trust Him? Those waves reminded me who I am. To God I must look like an ant. An ant that He loves and He can take care of. So next time I feel like worrying about money, or the future, or the present, I'm going to try to think about those waves. And think about the God who created them, created me, and is in control of everything!

Divine Nature

I read an awesome devotion last night that really blessed me. I was amazed because normally this book (My Utmost for His Highest) will be confusing for me or I'll only understand part of what he's trying to say. Last night I got all of it.
It says in 2 Peter that we are partakers in the divine nature of God. We have to try to work that divine nature into our human nature. One of the first habits to form within the divine nature is recognizing God's providence in our lives. He said "God would reach for the last grain of sand or the remotest star to bless us if we will only obey Him."
It really ministered to me and made me realize the importance in trusting in God's providence. He is God Almighty - capable of anything and everything. And we have access to Him. Why do we worry so much? Why are we anxious about how we're going to pay bills? I pray that I would be able to live in this divine nature where trusting in God's providence in part of who I am.

Streamlining my life...

We have been SO busy this summer...praise the Lord. But there is too much stuff in my life!

Before tonight I had 2 emails, plus my business email. And a facebook, and a blog, and twitter.....blah blah blah

So now by signing up with gmail I can have facebook, twitter, blogger, news, weather, mail...everything all in one spot. I need this in my life. The easier the better. I could just cut all of that stuff out but I think it's important to keep up with friends and family and all of this web stuff is a good way of doing it. Anyways, sorry for this being the 3rd time I've changed my blog address...but it will be weetooworld.blogpot.com for good. :) (I don't like as much without the "s" but oh well!)