Abby's Room

Now that I am up and about YEAH! I have been working on some projects for Abby's room. Here are some pictures of Abby's crib, the crib with decorative bedding, and an adorable clip/ cork board I made for all of her adorable hair bows and other such nick knacks (thank you Aunt Melissa for your generous donations!). Enjoy!

Horrible Person!

OK, OK. I realize i have not posted anything in quite some time, for this I apologize. All is going well here we are just trekking along waiting for our little bundle of joy to arrive. She gave us a little bit of a scare when she decided she was ready to come at 33 weeks! Thank heavens for being alive in the 21st century and having gifted doctors who know what they are doing. Abby is still residing inside mommy's belly for now, but now mommy is the anxious one. I have been put on bed rest (or as James so loving puts it "house arrest") so that I can better "incubate" my little one. This is the reason there have been no pictures and no posts. I must sneak to get out of bed or off the couch when my better half is not around, and will not chastise me for being "up"! Abby has decided to stay put for now, but continues to grow big and strong. She still measures about two weeks early, and has her moments of increased activity and bouts of hiccups at night! I love the hiccups by the way, they make me giggle some of them are so strong I feel bad for her! That is all for now hopefully more updates will come shortly! Happy holidays to ALL!

Nathan's Tempe Triathlon

I did it. I may still not be in the best physical shape ever, which is evident in how I look in these tight clothes, but I still finished. The looking good part will hopefully come later. I don't have the final results with all the split times but I know that I didn't come in last in my group. I finished with a time of about 1:49. I am grateful for the support of my beautiful and pregnant wife who woke up this morning at 4:00 with me to get to the race. She also helped/made me go to the gym so that I would be ready for the race. She supported me 100%, even when I needed to buy gear for the race. Without her, I would not have been able to do this. I am also grateful for my Mom and John who surprised me by being there when I came out of the water after the swim.

This is the swim we had to do to get to the starting line.

End of the 800 meter swim. Off to grab my bike.

Time to put the bike back and go running.

Just keep running, just keep running.

This was supposed to be a great picture of me finishing, but the guy asked for my timing chip and I bent down to take it off my ankle right as Rachel snapped the shot. Cant blame her for that one. Who ducks at the finish line?

Here is the one to make up for it.

This was a pretty big deal for me, more so than it probably seems. There were times after my accident and subsequent surgery that I was so depressed by the thought of never being able to be active again. This event is something that I have been working towards to show myself that I can do it. Sure the knee is irritated, but it made it through and hopefully will just get stronger. I already have my next tri picked out. I am going to do the Desert Grande Triathlon in Coolidge on November 7th. Its a little shorter, but I'm still excited about it. If anyone wants to join me, registration costs go up on the 19th of October. Till then it is only 55 dollars. Come on, you know you want to.

Thanks Jelaire!

I feel the need to stop and publicly thank my wonderful sister Jelaire. She has no idea I am doing this, so Jelaire I am sorry if this embarrasses you, but it needed to be said! Jelaire got married just a few months back, and graciously allowed me to exercise my skills and practice not only the food for her wedding, but also the cakes! Yes, I wrote that correctly, CAKES! Plural, as in more than one. Actually there were thirty, and they weren't actually cake cakes, they were cheesecakes.

Fabulous! I thought having cheesecakes instead of a traditional wedding cake was and ingenious ideas and was 100% on board! Oh wait, I have never really made and cheesecake before and don't even eat them too often. Oh well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Here I must stop and thank my husband, my brother-in-law John and my beautiful sister-in-law Robyn for there extensive cheesecake knowledge and for being willing to eat piece after piece with no apparent end in site.

So to make a long story short, the cheesecakes were a HUGE success! Everyone at the wedding loved them, and I was given much praise. (I do not mean to sound prideful, even I was amazed at the result. I could not have had such success without the amazing support of those around me.)

For the month or so before the wedding I was completely consumed in making cheesecakes, and my poor fellow co-workers and boss heard nothing but "cheesecakes this and cheesecakes that" com out of my mouth until after I returned from California. This constant talk of cheesecakes singled me out as the special dessert/ cheesecake lady at work. (Each weekend at work we have a specialty dessert or cheesecake aside from our normal menu.) So to continue on with my incredibly long story (sorry) My bosses are out of town for three weeks, and they left me in charge of the desserts. Last week I was told on Thursday that I was to make a cheesecake for the weekend. We couldn't go buy any ingredients so I had to come up with something I could make with the ingredients I had on hand.

Here is where the HUGE THANK YOU JELAIRE comes into play. If I had not been given the opportunity to make so many cheesecakes for Jelaire's wedding I would be terrified and at a terrible loss of what to do. I looked around and decided to make an oatmeal snicker doodle cheesecake. (A cinnamon cheesecake sandwiched between two chewy oatmeal snicker doodle cookies). It sold OK , but there was a lady and her daughter who ordered a piece and loved it. The daughter has a birthday coming up and exclaimed that this what she wanted for her birthday cake. The mother called me and I have my very first client (who is not a close friend or relative, even though they make GREAT clients as well)! I am so excited that some tasted something I made, and now wants to buy more!

I can never give enough thanks to all those who have supported me and given me opportunities to learn, grow, and develop my skills! You guys are the best!

I love you and, and thank you for enduring my long story!

A picture of the cheesecake will follow.

The Bump!

OK so I feel it's official... At 21 weeks I have officially POPPED! The bump is now present, and I feel in full force. I would love to post a picture but, seeing as we are without a camera at the moment one will be coming shortly!

All I have to say is once you can sit down, look at your belly, and see the bottom inside of your belly button something is definitely growing inside of you! I love it! Our little one is going strong and already bringing so much joy and excitement into our lives! I can't wait to see what else is to come!

Love you all, and I PROMISE pictures soon!

Rachel

Our little baby...GIRL!

James and I are pleased to announce we are having a little baby girl. I am living proof that the old wives tale of how the baby's heart rate can determine gender is correct. Apparently, if the doctor measure the baby has a high or fast heart rate throughout pregnancy, then it's a girl: obviously if it is slower it is supposed to be a boy. The range is like somewhere between 120 and 160 bpm is average. Well our little girl has measured 160 bpm every single time I have gone! It must be true!

We are so excited to have a little girl and to dress her up so cute and pretty. I know I will have lots of help from my sisters :) and can't wait! I had to go to work right after my appointment yesterday, but James had the day off, and was able to come take me out to lunch, and then we went to Target and looked at some baby girl clothes. It was so fun to be able to share this experience with someone I love so dearly. I am so thankful for my husband and can't wait to see him with our little one! I just know that once he gets home from work I will never see that baby again. She will be watching TV with Daddy, on the computer with Daddy, or just plan doing anything with Daddy! I can't wait.

We have quite an active little girl, so the ultrasound was interesting. She had her knees up to her nose the entire time with her hands flailing above her head waving and playing with her feet. Dr. Tutt was trying to look into her head to look at the brain, and she kept turning her head, or an occasional foot would pop into view blocking her face. It was so amazing to see all the tiny fingers and toes, the face, and especially the heart and spine. It still amazes me to think that this baby is still so small, yet has a proportionate body, a functioning heart with four tiny cambers, working kidneys and bladder, and all her fingers and toes! OK so here's our little girl!

This is our little one, all curled up with a great view of her spine on top!

Thanks guys for all your love and support! Updates and more pregnancy pictures of me to come! Love you all!

The Crib Quilt

I was somehow able to fix my sewing machine without having to take it in and pay $60! Yeah! With my machine being fixed I was able to complete the crib quilt for the baby's room. It is out of the same pattern as the bumper pads and came pre-quilted, all I had to do is the affix finishing tape to the outer edges of the fabric. I sewed the finishing tape onto the edges with a super cute leaf stitch. It turned out great, and I think that it will look GREAT in the baby's room! Enjoy!