Our Weekend and a 12 week lime

At 12 weeks, our baby is the size of a lime and measures just over 2 inches from crown to rump, weighing in at a grand ½ ounce. I’m glad to have graduated from fig to lime, and am eagerly looking forward to seeing what fruit our baby will grow into next, according babycenter.com that is. ;)
This past weekend was a busy one, full of babysitting, sewing projects, pizza, lounging and a trip to the movie theater (accompanied by the now highly regretted movie theater popcorn). I’ll post some pictures of my latest sewing projects soon, once I find the motivation and patience to complete those last few details. I’m working on a little skirt and corduroy jumper and drum roll please, learning how to sew in a zipper! My next post will undoubtedly be titled, “If you want to work on your patience, learn to sew.”

On my end of the baby front, aside from some headaches here and there, sprinkled with a nice helping of constant congestion, I’m feeling really good. In all seriousness, I’m so grateful for such a healthy start and hope, knock on wood, that all continues as such. After all, I hear it only gets better from here on out…that is until the very very end, but I’ll take that one day at a time ;) Our next appointment is at the end of October, and I’m eagerly anticipating the confirmation and excitement that hearing the little heartbeat will bring. In the meantime, I think our mini weekend getaway to Charleston and the state fair will fill our time very nicely. :)

First place best taste!

Last night our church held its first ever dessert contest, and I won for “best taste!” Whooo hooooo! There were several amazing desserts there-from yummy cookie cakes, home spun apple pies and petite peanut butter cheesecakes-all of them looked like wonderful, mouthwatering works of art! My winning treat was a “Cookies N Cream” cake garnished with decadent white chocolate butter cream icing and delicious Oreo cookies. Chris also made our oatmeal cranberry white chocolate chunk cookies to bring and they turned out great too!

I was so happy that my dessert was a prized crowd pleaser, considering this cake and I had a rocky afternoon. The first time I tried transferring cake to plate, half of it stuck to the pan and no amount of plastic surgery could save it. And thus I took a breath, cleaned up my mess and headed back out to the grocery store to buy all new ingredients. Thank goodness for an extra measure of patience and persistence because I’m confident that the cake turned out much better the second time around(not to mention I very much enjoyed the second round of extra cake batter licking)! The next obstacle I faced was perfecting the white chocolate icing, which was another first. Who knew there was such a delicate balance to be met when heating chocolate-it feels like it’s never quite melted enough, and yet how could you miss the bold “do not overheat” instructions! The texture was a bit harder to work with once mixed in with the butter cream, but I was up for the challenge! In the end, the long and sweet afternoon was all worth it and the cake was mmmmmm mmmmmm good! I'm already looking forward to next years!

A Flee Market Montage

On Saturday my mom, sister and I headed to the state fairgrounds for the Southern Ideal Home Show and, as a perk, the last official flee market before it closes down for the fair. We saw...

Lots of precious puppy dogs(many dressed for the occasion) and even a Dalmatian!
A grand assortment of colorful tin art, including a 6 foot tall girafe surrounded by under the sea friends and a rooster.The donkey from Shrek even made an appearance, along with Ronald McDonald! A sea of fabulous purses to peruse....andmany more interesting stands to shop. Glass bottle cokes, lots of interesting antiques and a stroll around the home show finished out our fairgrounds visit. Topped off with a beeline to BabiesRUs and a delicious lunch from Olive Garden, us girls shared quite an adventurous Saturday morning!

11 Weeks

Right now, our baby is just over an inch and a half long, about the size of a fig and is almost fully formed! It can open and close it's tiny hands now, and many of the bones are beginning to harden. Little toothbuds are also beginning to form beneath the gums. And though I can't quite feel it's baby aerobics yet, it's starting its "water ballet" classes now and will become very active over the next few weeks....even hiccuping as it's diaphragm forms! I think it is so cool how intricately this little guy or girl is designed and can't wait to hear it's heartbeat at our next appointment near the end of October.

On my end of things, I'm happy to report that I'm feeling great! I've been blessed to dodge the morning sickness thus far, and hav'net been experiencing anything too unpleasant aside from some monstrous headaches here and there. I'm hoping my energy, strong stomach and high metabolism continue to be close friends from this point onward! Only 29 weeks and counting :)