A Week of February Events

The week of February 10 was a busy one for our McKee household.

• February 13- Jesse's 27th birthday
• February14- Valentines Day
• February 16- "Friends February Birthday Bash" party 

These events meant a lot of planning and preparation on my part which was exhausting, but I am so thankful I now have the time to cook and entertain with our friends.

Jesse's birthday turned out to be an almost flop of a day. He had an emergency situation at work occur and did not get home until late that night. I had planned on fixing a big meal for him, but due to the unknown status of when he would come home, we opted to wait it out and just grab something quickn whenever he came home.

It worked out for him because he got to eat one of his favorite foods...mall Chinese food. Questionable food, but always tasty.

He didn't ask for anything this birthday so everything was a surprise. I just love his faces, he really was surprised.

The next event was Valentines Day of course. Again, it was almost a flop because Jesse had to work late, but we were able to squeeze in a romantic home cooked meal and a late movie.

I simply made the meal I was going to make on his birthday and then as part of his birthday (that is what I kept telling myself) we went to see the new Die Hard movie. I of course was not a fan, but Jesse did let me get whatever I wanted at the concession, so chocolate covered almonds and a cherry Slurpee it was. Odd, but I can't deny the baby what he wants, especially on Valentines Day :)

Our yummy Valentines dinner: steak, lobster, roasted broccoli, twice baked potatoes and homemade garlic rolls.

 

 

 

I had never made lobster or half of the other things on that plate, but it all turned out really good.

 

The final event for the week was the "Friends February Birthday Bash." That is what I am calling it anyway. Several of our friends have birthdays in February so we just decided to throw one big party.

 

Decorations.

 

 

Of course fried turkey was on the menu!

 

Before.

 

 

 

During.

(Technically there were two fried turkeys)

 

 

 

After.

For some reason they look really burnt here, but trust me, there were so delicious!

 

 

The Birthday crew.

 

 

Whew, I get tired just reminiscing about that week, but we walked away with a lot of great memories so it was all worth it.

 

We still have leftover turkey and cake if anyone wants to come and clean out my frig :)

Washington DC + Three New States = The Last Vacay, Part 2

After DC, we traveled to New Jersey and then spent some time in Philadelphia. Technically, Philly is in Pennsylvania and we have already been to that state, but there were several things that we wanted to see.

Camden, New Jersey.  

Just some random town across the border. There were several old buildings and churches that were cool to look at, but other then that, Camden is NOT a place I will be revisiting.

 

 

In Philly...

The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

Scenes from Rocky. An absolute must stop for Jesse.

We had to eat Philly cheesesteak of course.

After Philly we drove back towards Baltimore, but first we drove through Delaware, a new state for us. It had snowed the day before, so it was cool to have a snow picture from the trip.

 

In Baltimore, Maryland...

On the harbor on Super bowl Sunday. There were tons of Ravens fans out and about.

We were told the one thing we had to do in Baltimore was eat crab, so that is what we did and it was very good!

 

To conclude the trip we ordered pizza, ate delicious marble slab ice cream and watched the super bowl in our hotel room before catching our flight the next day.

 

And finally, I will leave you with this image because I thought it was too funny. Enjoy!



Washington DC + Three New States = The Last Vacay, Part 1

The ever growing belly and restrictions on flying spurred Jesse and I to take one last trip before baby boy arrives.

Early on in our marriage we set the goal of traveling to all 50 states before either 1) our five year wedding anniversary or 2) having a baby. Well, the latter came first.

Although we did not make our goal of all 50, I am proud to say that we have now been to 45 states! We have had a blast working towards this goal, and believe me, it's not over. The states we have remaining are Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii and of all places, Wisconsin. We still have 1.5 years left before the big five year anniversary mark, so who knows what we will accomplish between now and then...even with baby in tow.

Welcome to DC!

So many historic sites.

Jesse's favorite, Vietnam Memorial

 

I hope everyone knows this one :)

The bottom right picture is a photo of a fleet of black vehicles and police cars that where coming from the White House...the president perhaps?

Air and Space Museum, Ford Theater where Lincoln was shot, The house across from Ford's Theater where Lincoln died, The Hope Diamond (45.52 carats, yes please!)

 

Do you remember the TLC show DC Cupcakes? Well, since I was so close, I just had to find their bakery and try one for myself, or in this case two.

 

Their bakery is actually called Georgetown Cupcakes, I guess DC Cupcakes just sounded better for the shows sake. Either way, baby boy and I give the cupcakes two thumbs up!

 

 

Part two coming up next: Philly, Baltimore, New Jersey and Deleware

Month 7 (25-28 weeks)- Pregnancy Woes

Month seven has been a blur. There is nothing in particular that sticks out from week to week that happened, but the whole month in general brought on new pregnancy challenges.

• Swollenness
• arms
• legs
• ankles (more like kankles)
• face
• Continual battles with acne (nothing new there)
• Braxton Hicks contractions. Nothing alarming, but some days they can occur once or twice every hour and can make me feel uncomfortable. I just need to learn to take it easy when that happens
• Back pain
• Sleepless nights (due to the never ending trips the the bathroom and the nagging back pain)

All-in-all though I still feel great. The above issues are all manageable and just part of being pregnant so I try not to complain (too much).

My doctors appointment this month meant I had to pass my glucose test, and I did! No gestational diabetes for me. I also gained another 6 lbs this month, making my total gain 17 lbs. At this rate, I will be huge when my due date arrives! I am just glad to know that baby boy is growing.

Enough talk, I know all you want to see are the weekly photos, so here they are:

The best part of this month was that Jesse and I took a mini vacation to three new states! I guess it was our last big hoorah before baby arrives. More to come on the trip later.

Farewell, Silver Bullet

Sadly, I cried the day we sold my car.

 

I am not a super materialistic person, but this was my first car and I had driven it for 10 years, so saying goodbye to the old silver bullet just wasn't easy.

 

Photos of the final day...

 

Hope it's new owner takes good care of it!

Resolution Recap

Wow, where did 2012 go? As well as what happened to the 2012 New Year resolutions that I made last January?

Here is a quick recap of my goals for 2012:

1) Blog more...not more on my own, but participate more on others.

• Outcome- I probably didn't flop on this too much. I feel like I did a better job of commenting and joining others blogs, but I guess a lot of you can be the judge since several of you have blogs. How did I do?

2) Read at least one book a month.

• Outcome- Hahaha, what was I thinking setting this goal. It is totally doable, but not for me, at least not with the crazy work schedule I had. I ended up reading five books, great ones I might add. It's not quantity, but quality, right?

3) Try cooking newer recipes, more frequent.

• Outcome- Pinerest was a huge help in this department and I definitely branched out of my cooking comfort zone on some things. I probably had more flop recipes then keepers, but none-the-less, I now have new/different recipes that I keep on the weekly rotation.

4) Lose weight, of course.

• Outcome- a great big Fail, with a capital F. But wait, I have a really, really good excuse. I am pregnant! I actually lost 3 (whole) pounds before finding out I was pregnant, since then I have gained 11, but am totally fine with it and am definitely NOT trying to lose any weight...until after the baby is born : )

5) Move to a new location

• Outcome- Well I can end on a good note because we definitely did this! We moved from an apartment in Houston to a house in Katy and are loving it.

6)  Reevaluate my 2012 resolutions every month to make sure I am on track.

• Well, I said I was going to end on a good note, but this DID NOT happen, at all. But that is OK, I still was semi successful with my 2012 goals, so maybe needing to reevaluate on a monthly basis is not needed.

Hey, six goals is pretty lofty for me so all-in-all I say I hung in there pretty well.

Resolutions, goals, whatever you want to call them, how did you do on your resolutions for 2012?

Month 6 (21-24 weeks), The Bump Gets Recognized

In month six it finally happened. A complete stranger came up to me asking about my baby bump!

Why the excitement you might ask? Well, it finally means I am actually looking more pregnant and less chubby. And it means it was obvious enough for someone to confidently say something to my face, versus the whispers behind my back and the odd stares and thoughts of "is she pregnant or just gaining weight?" 

So thank you lady at Sears for saying something : ) Now that even you can tell I am pregnant, I can finally come to terms with the fact that I am also, haha.

Here is a bit of an update for this month of baby activity.

Week 21

• My last week of work.
• Surprisingly my acne started to clear up a bit.

Week 22

• Baby's first "unofficial" Christmas. He got some pretty cool gifts...and is already spoiled.
• I felt/saw baby's first external movement!

Week 23

• This was the first week of January and reality sets in...we are having a baby boy in 2013. Time to start buying stuff!!!
• Jesse got to see baby boy move!

Week 24

• I had my monthly Dr.'s appointment. I have gained a total of 11 lbs. This  month alone I gained 7 lbs. I guess all of that holiday eating helped bump me up. Next month I get to look forward to the yucky glucose test and more blood work.