Maine!

Matt celebrated his 30th birthday for an entire week - a trip to Maine followed by a present a day, birthday desert with family, and a birthday dinner with friends. I'm worn out! To say his 30th was celebrated is an understatement :)

Let's talk about Maine!

Matt and I have started a tradition of taking a mini-vacay for his birthday. 2 years ago we went to Montreal and last year we headed to Lake Placid. This year he decided he'd like to go to Maine. We didn't have a lot of time to take off work so we headed to Kennebunkport for the weekend (only about 4 hours from Burlington).

On our way to Maine we stopped through Meg's future town to check it out - only 1 1/2 hours from us!

We stayed at the Kennebunkport Inn - it was great - right downtown and we could easily walk anywhere we wanted to go.

The Inn was recently renovated and reopened April 1 so things were fresh and new!

We spent the first afternoon walking around and checking out the town...

The second day we took advantage of the beach cruisers to do some more exploring!

Watch out - pregnant lady on a bike :)

Lots of beautiful houses....

And hotels!

We checked out the beach views too...

Former President Bush has a compound in Kennebunkport - Walker's Point. It's highly visible from Ocean Drive in Kennebunkport. Check it out!

At one point we lost our way but a quick check of the tourist map and we were on the right track again...

We rode almost 14 miles! That's harder than it sounds when you're pregnant and on a bike with only one gear :) We went all the way out to Porpoise Point to check out the view.

Then rode our bikes on the beach before heading back.

Be back soon with more!

xo!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Happy 30th Birthday to Matt!!!

I can't believe my husband is turning 30...we met when we were 17! How has time passed so quickly? Lucky me to have snagged him so early :)

I could go on and on listing all of his positive attributes - always in a good mood, helpful, supportive, kind, up for any adventure - but I don't want it to go to his head. One thing I can't wait to add come June is amazing dad to our Baby T. I already know he's going to be an incredible one!

Noodle, Baby T and myself have been celebrating with birthday festivities all week! Our house has turned into a party zone...

We also celebrated early with a trip this past weekend to Maine - pics to come! Here is an advance shot for you from the bike ride we took (yes pregnant lady on a bike!)....

We love you Matt!!!

xoxo

Baby Bump Weeks 25-27

These weeks were the last of the 2nd trimester! Wow...I'm almost 29 weeks now and it's hard to believe there are only about 11 to go.

Some recent pregnancy things...

- When you are late in your 2nd trimester you have to be screened for gestational diabetes. I failed my screening :( which means that I had to go in to the lab for a 3 hour glucose tolerance test. It's not a fun experience as you have to fast for 12 hours, drink a super sugary drink, and then sit for 3 hours as they take your blood 4 different times. The good news is I passed!

- I'm so thankful I don't have gestational diabetes because I'm craving chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate (although I don't turn down any other sweets like peeps either). I'm calling this a craving but maybe it's just an excuse for my lack of willpower....

- Still running. Is there an animal slower than a snail? I would compare my pace to whatever that is. Still love yoga and hiking too :)

- The nursery is coming along. We had an electrical outlet put in a few days ago and by the time it was in we also had 3 holes in the recently painted walls. Ug. They are in the process of fixing it so I will share soon.

- The baby is moving, moving, moving. It has grown from the size of a poppy seed to a butternut squash (15 inches long head to heel and 2 1/2 pounds). It's hard to believe it's supposed to grow to the size of a small pumpkin by 40 weeks!

Happy Thursday!

xo!

Sugar on Snow

So a few weeks ago when it was beautiful and warm outside, I decided to finally try sugar on snow with my cousins :) Never heard of it? Check out this description.

After a nice walk down at the lake, we stopped here to try our Sugar on Snow.

Check out the temp! What a strange day to have Sugar on Snow. You may wonder how they make it when there's no snow around. I found out that they use a snow making machine (like they use for snow cones) and drizzle the maple syrup onto that shaved ice rather than real snow. I think we were cheated a bit but I suppose this is also more sanitary :)

When you go to a sugar house you really get to see how maple sugar is made. I can't give a good explanation, but I'll try to explain it as I understand it and you can google if you're really interested. Maple trees are "tapped" in the late winter (it all depends on temperature I think) and the syrup runs out of them through an elaborate network of tubing. The tubes all end up running into the sugar house. Inside the sugar house there is this cool steam tent you see below.

The sap runs through metal troughs and is boiled down until it turns into syrup.

It doesn't have to be this precise, we have friends/family that have made their own by boiling a huge pot over a campfire too! It's more efficient to do it this way as it take about 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup. Here is a guy pouring the finished syrup into a jug. When you buy "real pure Vermont syrup" this is how it's made :)

The sales counter....I was informed by the women that I was allowed to taste the syrup as it's heated. They told me you aren't supposed to have honey while pregnant because it isn't pasteurized or heated to get rid of bacteria. I love honey and have been eating it throughout my pregnancy. OOPS.

Sugar on snow served with a pickle and donut. YUM.

We found some friends outside :)

That's all for now! Hope you're having a good week. It's almost Wednesday...

xo!

Nursery Planning #3 - The Crib!

I'll be the first to admit - I'm indecisive. When it comes to planning just about anything I have a terribly difficult time making a decision! The crib was a little bit of an exception. I did lots of research, but I had a good idea of what I wanted it to look like before I started searching. (I say I because Matt could care less).

I wanted a white, low profile crib with clean lines. Pretty modern but nothing clear or futuristic looking. I wanted all four rails to be the same height. No particular reason - just like the look. I wanted it to be made of solid wood and have a nontoxic finish. I didn't want the white to look plasticky like a lot I saw when I started browsing around local stores here.

This crib by Oeuf fit all my criteria. Except that it costs $730. Sadly I just don't want to spend over $700 for a crib considering all the other things we need to buy. Out it went.

After many google searches, I landed on this post on none other than one of my favorite blogs Young House Love! They pretty much described down to the last detail what I wanted out of a crib. It was perfect - they did all the research for me!

Check out the crib in their daughter's room. Cute right?

I looked online and couldn't believe it when I saw that it came from Walmart. AND it cost $269. Too good to be true! I read many of the reviews and about 99% were positive. I bought it - they delivered it for free to our local store and Matt and I picked it up about a week later!

It sat in the future nursery like this for about a month until I finally asked Matt to put it together with me.

Ah. The joy of assembling furniture. No wonder Matt wanted to put it off.

Luckily, there were good directions and none of the pieces arrived scratched or dented.

Of course the future big sister was quite curious :)

Matt did most of the heavy lifting while I read the directions....

And positioned myself so that I could watch the ACC tournament.

It wasn't as difficult as we thought :)

Until we got to the drawer. I lost patience so Matt took over and it all turned out fine. Good thing it was a team effort.

I sat with Will and watched the last part come together. Excuse the pyjama pants but noodle was too cute not to share.

I was super pumped to get a JumpOnIt deal through my email (the local radio station hosts them) for 50% off to our local mattress store. I called and asked if they carried organic mattresses and they did. I ended up going with a mattress by Natura - it's not completely organic but made of all the same ingredients (latex, coconut fibers, etc.) and not certified. I'm not sure I buy that it's as good but figured it was good enough.

Complete!

I'm not sure if we'll keep the drawer in there as I want my crib skirt to touch the ground, but hopefully it will just go right over top of it. Another project completed!

xo!

Baby Bump Weeks 22-24

It's getting bigger! I've had multiple people (those whose classroom I'm in several times per week too) tell me they had no clue I was pregnant until now! I guess I've just been feeling bigger than I am all this time - or perhaps they were too nice to ask in case I was just getting large :)

Some thoughts on pregnancy these days....

- I love the baby bump! It's exciting that it's obvious enough for people to ask. I love striking up conversations with random moms (young and old) all over the place and hearing their advice :) Some people don't love that type of thing but I think it's great.

- Baby movements are amazing. They occur frequently now and I can't help but smile as I sit in meetings, work with kids, watch TV and feel them. It's funny to see them from the outside now too.

- Prenatal yoga - MUST. DO. I feel so much better after yoga. If I have to skip a week I can tell. Love it.

- Willpower - Out the window. Maybe I'm using pregnancy as an excuse? I have no will to say no to chocolate, ice cream, peeps (awful I know), coffee yogurt!

- Weight gain - This one is not a surprise. I was expecting to gain weight, but I was not prepared for the spreading out of areas such as the hips, etc. People also don't tell you that you gain weight in all the places you would usually gain first and it does make you feel just big, not pregnant. I've found that slows down as the weeks go on and weight goes into the belly where you would rather it be :)

- Maternity Clothes - Buy and wear them early. I felt like a new woman the day I put on my maternity pants and stopped trying to squeeze my spreading hips into my old jeans plus a bella band.

- Maternity Workout Clothes - Don't exist. Just putting it out there. Someone should start a business....they would make a fortune. So far I'm lucky that my t-shirts and yoga pants still fit me. I bought one base layer top from Mountain-Mama.com and love it.

- Skin - Oh my poor skin. I'm just going share it all so those of you that wonder can be prepared. Not everyone gets the beautiful pregnancy glow. For me, pregnancy has brought on the acne and there's not a dang thing I can do about it. No face wash has worked (the dermatologist told me I could use a mild salicylic acid but I'm not willing to risk it since lots of other people have told me to avoid it) and you're not allowed to use pretty much anything else in the form of lotions or potions. Sun helps. However, sun also causes melasma. If you haven't heard of it...google it. I've always struggled but sun brings that on. Luckily it has been winter and most of my acne struggles are on my back so they can be covered up. I feel fortunate I had this issue out of all that could be though, nausea for 10 months would be harder to deal with I know.

- Exercise - I'm still running and hiking and feel so much better when I do! My pace has slowed. Think the speed of a turtle. Maybe snail. Poor Willow isn't sure whether she should walk or run but she manages to make it work :) Afterwards, I feel like I ran 10 miles when I only did 3! Ha. I'm happy so long as I'm out there and the warm weather recently has been really helping my cause!

Well congrats if you're still reading. Hope it's not TMI but figure I should keep it real. I know I never post pics of the belly unless they're the weekly staged ones, so here is one I sent to Meg recently before I went to dinner. Excuse the closet shot. I have my mom to thank for the cute shirt - it's actually not even maternity :)

xo!

First day of spring - or is it summer?

I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't here to enjoy it for myself.

(Yes I did look at this at 6:33am - right before I headed out the door to work - another reason why I love the weekends!)

It has been sunny and warm for the past 5 days in a row and it feels amazing! We have a few more to go :) It certainly doesn't feel like March in Vermont.

Willow loves it too....

The nursery is getting painted this week! Be back soon with pics!

xo