A Whale of a Good Time- Baby Shower #1

It's baby shower time!

 

My mom, sister and her family, and my MIL all came down to Houston to celebrate with Jesse and I at our church baby shower this past weekend and we all had a wonderful time.

 

Here are a few pre-shower pics:

 

With the mothers.

Mother and son.

A few shower pics:

 

My hostesses had decorated everything so nice. It was in my navy and yellow colors with some really cute whale details.

With my beautiful hostesses. They were all so wonderful to have thrown me this shower.

Mom, me and sister. It always amazes me when I see a picture of the three of us and realize how much we look alike.

Opening my MIL's quilt.

 

 Opening my mom's quilt. We are so lucky to have had people make us so many nice handmade things.

Before all of our family headed out of town we took a quick day trip to Brenham, TX to tour the Blue Bell Creamery. It was a really neat tour. Of ocurse I thought the best part was the free ice cream at the end. Do you blame me?

On the way we stopped and saw some beautiful blue bonnets.

 

  

We had a really good time visiting with family and friends and we received some wonderful gifts. We are truly blessed to have so many people in our lives who love our little guy just as much as we do.

 

And the shower fun is not over yet! We have some close friends who are throwing us a couples baby shower coming up in a few weeks. We can't wait for more baby shower fun!



Month 8 (weeks 29-32)- No Room in the Inn

And by "Inn" I mean my belly! More than ever this month I have been feeling the aches and pains of a growing baby, and he is running out of room. His little feet have found their way into some very uncomfortable positions, such as my ribs, ouch! The ever gaining weight has finally taken a toll on my spine and no seated position feels good.

 

But as always, there have been many perks, each of his little (I mean big) movements remind me that he is alive and active. And each day I get closer and closer to meeting him face-to-face. We can't believe how time has flown by!

 

Week 29

• Jesse and I got to meet with our pediatrician for the first time and we both really like him. I am so glad we found one that we both feel comfortable with.
• Celebrated Jesse's 27th birthday. His last one with just us.
• Celebrated Valentines day by eating a delicious home cooked meal and then went to a movie.
• Celebrated February birthdays with friends, February Birthday Bash.  

 

Week 30

• Started going every two weeks to the doctor. All was good!
• Made a final trip to Elgin, Oklahoma to visit family. I learned the hard way that driving for seven hours alone was not a good idea, my back was in pain the whole drive!

Weeks 31 and 32

• I slacked one week on the photo taking and had to do a combo picture. It happens.
• Baby boy finds out he likes to kick my ribs. I find out I don't like it at all : )
• I started to have a numbness/tingling in my feet. It is a weird feeling, but normal...I guess.
• Started birthing classes. They started out with a bang by making us watch three live birth videos.
• The baby room is actually looking like a baby room! The crib and dresser are up and functional. We also ordered a rocking chair, just waiting on it to come in.  
• My appetite has increased drastically. The other night, Jesse asked for a light portion of dinner, not a "Heather" portion. I guess I have been feeding him double servings since that is what I have been eating.

I can't believe it, but only one more month until I have reached "term" pregnancy (37 weeks), after that he could arrive any time!

"Thar she blows"

I'm no Ishmael in Moby Dick, but I am on a whale hunt.

The cute kind of whales, like these:

That's right baby's room has a theme! Our colors are navy and yellow with accents of cute whale stuff...when I can find it.

I am constantly on the hunt for cute whale finds. I am very proud of what I have so far:

Whale book end.

 

Whale bank, I just love the polka dots.

I have also received some adorable whale clothing and "accessories."

The cutest swim trunks!

Although whale decorations may be hard to find, at least the clothing department has it right. There are so many adorable whale clothing pieces out there right now, I guess whales are a growing trend.

A Final Trip to Oklahoma

I decided since I had the time that I should make one last trip to Oklahoma to see family before my doctor makes me say put in Houston.
.
Unfortunately I did a terrible job of taking pictures of people while I was there, so there is just this one of me...at least it is a good belly shot for your viewing : )

My mom and I had decided to take a walk in the pasture since it was such a nice afternoon, however the rest of trip the was filled with cold weather and the day I left there was supposed to be a "blizzard" sweep through. Thankfully, I was able to get out of town before anything serious happened and by the time I got home, it was 74 degrees and sunny.

I also came home to a nice surprise, Jesse had put up our baby crib and in it waiting for me and baby was Bob the bear (Jesse's teddy bear as a baby) and a gift from our good friends.

Obviously the rest of the room still needs work, but Jesse is such a sweetheart to have gotten that done! Now all we need is a mattress and baby will have a place to sleep.

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