Bump update!

How far along? 30 weeks (wowzers)

Total weight gain/loss: I think like 19 pounds or something...crazy that I don't really feel it

Maternity clothes? Oh yes!

Stretch marks? No

Symptoms: Still feeling really good. Noticing that I'm getting a little more tired and slower, and bending to pick something up is becoming a chore, but still feeling great.

Sleep: Still sleeping great...since I'm getting a little more tired, I'm falling asleep rather quickly. Definitely appreciating this sleep while I have it.

Best moments this week: Celebrating Larsen's life with her family and friends. Also, our weather has been quite beautiful this week, and next week it's going to be even cooler...I'm so excited about a non-sweaty Halloween.

Movement: Yes, yes, and yes. He's definitely moving. Love watching my whole belly shake from a good kick that I'll feel on both sides at the same time. I'm sure he's getting cramped in there. :)

Cravings: Nope

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: Noticed that I'll feel a tightening on my whole belly that makes it feel like a rock, I'm wondering if that might be a braxton hicks contraction...I'm keeping an eye on it.

Belly Button in or out? Still in!

What I miss: Bending over with ease

What I am looking forward to: Well the shower is in less than two weeks now, crazy, crazy. I'm really looking forward to that and seeing lots of friends and family.

Weekly Wisdom: I've finally accepted the wisdom that not everything on my mental list needs to be done before baby boy comes. It felt like a huge burden was taken off of me when I really accepted that and let go of a few things that I had on my priority list that are really not a necessary priority.

Milestones: 30 weeks sounds like quite a milestone to me! My goodness. Also, my appointments are now going to be every two weeks since we're getting close. My, oh my, this is getting real.

Dance With Me

In honor of Lar's passing two years ago today, I wanted to share a favorite worship song of hers that I recorded last year. I remember her coming home from camp and excited to share this new song with me. I can see it all so clearly...me sitting on the floor of her bedroom as she sang and played it for me on her guitar. The song has grown to bless me in numerous ways, so I wanted to share it on this blog as it may be a blessing to some of you.

Dance With Me

Love you always, Lar. You're forever in our hearts.

Oreo Truffles

Let me start out this post by giving a shout out to the recipe, found here on Chef-In-Training.

I found this recipe last year and have made it numerous times. I truly make it for Rob's enjoyment as this man has described his experience with these truffles as "an indescribable experience that makes him want to cry" I guess with joy, because he loves them. :)

Best part about this recipe is that it only requires 3 ingredients. Double stuffed oreos, cream cheese and dipping chocolate.

First starting with the oreos...

I dumped the whole bag into a large ziplock bag...

And then mashed the cookies with my hands/fists/elbows until they looked like this...definitely burned some calories in the process. (if you have fancy kitchen gadgets like a food processor, that definitely works)

Then I dumped the contents into a mixing bowl. I should mention that if you mash the cookies in a bag, you have to scrape the bag a bit to get all of the cream off of it. The cream is very important for the consistency.

Added about 3 1/2 oz of cream cheese (recipe calls for 4 oz, however for Rob, 4 oz was a tad too cream-cheesey) Then got to mixing...with my hands...

Then I rolled the mixture into about 1-1 1/2 inch balls, and placed them on a wax paper covered tray.

Oh yeah, sportin the sweats. I then placed the tray in the freezer for about 15 minutes and got to melting my white chocolate.

The recipe calls to immerse the truffles in the chocolate, but for Rob that was too much chocolate, so I ended up just dipping the tops of them in the chocolate...it was way too late to try to be more creative.

Found these at Target for $2.50...and sprinkled them on the white chocolate...

And ta-da!

Oreo truffles with a Halloween-y twist. I thought later it could be fun to make these truffles look like eyeballs...however, it was just a nice thought. Maybe next year...and maybe if I hadn't started these at 10:30pm. Eek.

I should also mention that I doubled the recipe. This is how many truffles come out of two bags of double stuffed oreos, just to give you an idea of the serving size.

Happy mid-week everyone!

Whaley The Whale, Part Two

Well...whaley just wasn't sitting right with me. Not that he didn't look good, but the whole look I'm going for Finn's room has its specifics. So here's what whaley was looking like before...

I think I figured out what was bothering me about him. I think the stripes were feeling a little too babyish for what I'm going for in his room. I'm totally into stripes, but for some reason it just wasn't cuttin it for me.

So, I did a bit of that. Cuttin, that is...

Yep. After all that time of coloring those stripes and measuring them...it's now just scraps. Lol, but I think I got what I wanted now.

I found some brown paper behind Rob's desk and crinkled it up real good to add some texture. Then secured whaley to that...and here she blows, part two...

Simple, but definitely more up my alley...or shall I say galley. Nautical puns are getting too easy. :) I think this shall be the last and final part of the whaley chronicles.

Overwhelmed by the response to the post about Larsen, but shouldn't be surprised. She touched many lives, and continues to.

Love to you all!

Just Thinking of You...

For those who don't know, a close friend of mine, Larsen Hunt, was murdered almost two years ago by her ex-boyfriend in an act of domestic violence.

It was a shock, a knife in many hearts, a whirlwind. And even as the days and months and now years move forward, it still feels surreal.

So much can be said about Lar, she was a beautiful woman. It might have been the first thing you would of noticed when meeting her. However, the more you'd get to know her, you'd see she was so much more than that. She was strong, determined, driven, outgoing and deeply caring and she taught me a number of things during our years of friendship.

I feel like she taught me how to be a good friend. She wasn't the friend that would be solely concerned about her own life and what she was doing, she cared about what I cared about too. She was artistic and so creative with her thoughtfulness. I remember it was one of my birthdays at home and I woke up that morning to Lar sitting on my bedroom floor, indian style, with balloons all around her and a big decorated box with my birthday present. I still remember that cheesin smile she had when I opened my eyes, lol.

One more thing...when I was away in Fort Myers in Masters Commission for a year, Larsen sent me mail all the time with pictures of random friends and family holding a framed picture of me as if I were with them. It was one of the most comforting things as I was living away from home for the first time. Goodness, there's numerous stories of the caring things she would do. I can't express how thoughtful she was.

She taught me to be more bold. Larsen and I were far from similar. She was more outgoing, whereas I liked to kind of hang out in the shadows. We were an interesting mix. She brought out a side of me that I hadn't known was there. Her boldness and determination was, and still is, inspiring. When her mind was set on something, she'd do it. Watching her go through all of the emotions of having Aidric and taking on the role of mom, and facing his struggle with autism will always be inspiring.

She taught me how to rock the poof. For those who don't know what a poof is, refer to my hair in the picture of me and Rob in the "About" section. Lol, yeah, this may seem not a big deal, but trust me, I'm proud to have received my skill from THE pro.

I feel like she also taught me how to laugh. I don't remember a time before my friendship with Lar that I would laugh so hard I would be on the floor. We used to have the same honking laughs at one point, and often would debate who started it. I still totally think it was me, just sayin.

Oh Lar, I miss you. But I know you're in a beautiful place that we cannot truly fathom. With our Savior, Jesus. The Lover of our souls. And I know that your little boy is in the care of your loving parents and so many others who continue to love on him. And I know that I'll see you again.

But I still miss you.

And I'm so sad that your life here was cut short.

But I'll remember the good times. The lessons I learned from you. The joy you brought into my life and many others.

Love you always, friend.

Verse-a-day

I'm usually always in a rush in the mornings during the weekdays. Yes, I do try to fathom that it will be even more hectic with Finn, but I'm looking forward to him making me more responsible. I can't believe I'm going to be seeing this boy in a few months!!

But anyway, I came across this site, Light for the Day. It gives a daily verse along with a photo. I'm a visual gal, and love to see beautiful photos and this site has beautiful photo pairings to go along with the verse.

Anyway, thought I'd share. I love simple reminders to keep my mind on track.

Whaley The Whale

Well, it's no secret that Rob and I both have a thing for nautical. Even in more particular, Rob has a thing for whales, and squids, and ships. So there's going to be a bit of that showing up in Finn's room here and there. Trying not to go overboard. Lol, punny.

Anyway, I'm still trying to let this piece grow on me. This is a drawing I did with colored pencil and a thin black sharpie pen. Still letting it settle in. It's a little hard because I have to visualize all of the stuff in his room without knowing exactly what's going to be in there. So anyway, here she blows.

Whaley the whale...

Will see if she'll be a keeper in the long run.

Off for some needed laying-on-the-couch time. There might be a cheez-it or two involved.

(Update: see part two of whaley here)