Happy Halloween!

Today was a very busy day! My day started out at the doctor's office for my first (of up to EIGHT!) weekly visits for fetal monitoring. Having never had to do this before, I was a little anxious to see how it would all work out, especially since Ben was in Colorado Springs and he has gone with me to almost every appointment. Luckily, it was a piece of cake! The nurse strapped two belts around my belly, one to measure Noah's heartrate and the other to monitor any contractions. It was great to be able to just relax in the comfy chair and listen to his heartbeat! Towards the end of the session, he even got the hiccups! That was really funny! Afterwards, Dr. Bickman did another ultrasound (she's done one every time we've been in and I LOVE that about her!) and said that he weighs about 5lbs 9oz! But, if she's not worried, I won't be worried.

Later, once I got back home, I got a package in the mail from my parents.... I had been complaining to my Daddy-Man that none of my OU shirts were really fitting me right now and so he and Mom sent me a new one! And boy, is it big! They didn't believe me when I told them it was a 3XL, so here's a picture as proof:

If I wasn't pregnant, I'd probably be offended, but I'm just grateful to have something to wear on OU/Texas A&M weekend and especially on OU/Baylor weekend! Thanks Daddy-Man! (And Mom, and Jess for mailing it!)

When I finally got to pick Ben up from the airport (around 7:30!!), he brought home a few gifts from his mom. His favorite was the alligator bath towel which he promptly put on his own head, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera. Bummer.

Too cute! Thanks Carol!!

And of course, he couldn't go to bed until he beat me a couple of times at Wii Bowling... it's definitely our favorite game right now! :)

Chore day... boo.

Here's what I really did today:

Here's what I really wanted to do today:

Enough said.

Sewing, sewing, and more sewing...

****LESA! Do NOT read/look at the pictures below!! PLEASE!!******

Sometimes it's good when Ben is TDY - I can get so much more done when I don't have to stop and clean up for dinner! Of course, most of the time it's bad... like tonight when I wanted a picture of the nursing cover I made "in action" (notice I put it in quotations - the picture below simply doesn't show how the neckline is curved out!).

I've been wanting to make one of these based on the ones you can find at bebeaulait.com since I saw it in a magazine. Luckily, at our last scrapbooking crop, one of the ladies had her's with her and let me look at and measure it... the funny thing was, I had just bought the material to make it that very morning!

This is the blanket I just finished for my friend, Lesa. She and I have known each other since kindergarten and now we're due within three weeks of each other! Obviously she's having a girl. I just wish I could be at her shower too!

A is for Addisyn!

We have a Wii!!

The day started out normal enough... Ben and I overslept a little and so instead of rushing around to get ready, we decided to just watch our church service online. It was actually kinda nice to just relax on the couch in my PJs, with a cup of coffee and sing along and listen to Rick preach. We've already determined that once Noah gets here, this will be how we will "go to church" for the first couple of weeks/month!
It wasn't until after we watched the service and ate lunch that the normal-ness of a Sunday was over -we went to Toys R' Us. Under "normal" circumstances, it probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal... I mean, we are having a child soon and I do have a ton of BRU and TRU coupons! But we went in Toys R' Us with the sole purpose of finding out if they still had a Wii in stock... and just our luck, they did! Most everyone knows that we've been saving up for this and, so that we could get it a little sooner, we decided to put some of our Christmas money that we were going to spend on each other towards it. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting it all set up and of course, playing! Ben kicked my butt at Bowling, but I won every game of Laser Hockey! We even created our own Mii - versions of us! "Wii" can't wait for everyone to come play with us!! :)

My "Mii"... and yes, Ben was really kicking my butt!

It's never a dull day

One thing we can say about living in Sunny Southern California is that there is ALWAYS something to do. After Christian was picked up this morning, Ben and I went down to Ft. Mac (the base housing in San Pedro) for the Fall Festival. We had **free food** (always a favorite with us!), cotton candy, and fun! We ran into the "other" Smith's (plus a couple of their friend's little ones) while they were riding on the train, and Angie was the brave one who petted the huge rabbit in the petting area.



After we left Ft. Mac, Ben and I ran a few errands and then went back down to Ft. Mac to watch the Ohio State -Penn State game with the Freys and the Kauffmans. Ben and I remained neutral since Greg and Angie were rooting for Ohio State and Matt and Kristin were rooting for their alma mater Penn State... I mean, who wants to cause trouble with their friends? The funniest part of the evening was when Matt and Kristin strategically placed several Penn State paraphernalia around the living room and Greg and Angie took forever to notice it all! It was all in good fun and, even though the game ended badly for Penn State, I think everyone had a wonderful time!

Pumpkins!

Tonight Ben and I are babysitting Christian... he's even staying the night! To help make the evening fun (and to get another taste of what's to come for Ben!), Ben decided to carve his pumpkin with the little guy. It was quite an experience! The end result was a beautifully carved pumpkin, a happy little boy and a moment of awe when we turned out the lights and lit the candle. The silence didn't last long though... especially since Christian's favorite thing to do with "Mr. Ben" is be tickled and attacked.

"It's nasty."

The finished pumpkin!

Post-pumpkin tickle-fest!

Getting ready for Noah

So, after our shower in Oklahoma, Ben and I purchased most of our big baby gear (minus the actual crib) with the gift cards given to us by family and friends. Last night, Ben put together the swing. It seemed like pretty tough work (I just watched!) and at one point Ben looked at me and said, "This is my future, huh?" I just laughed and reminded him of all the bikes and toys that will need to be put together at Christmas and birthdays! Instead of taking it upstairs to the baby room, we just left it downstairs. So today, I've been looking at it and wondering, where on earth are we going to put all these baby items?! And yes, I finally took it upstairs all folded up. ;)

Another day inside....

but at least I had visitors! Katy and Grant came over this afternoon for a little bit of visiting and scrapbooking. Grant, of course, kept us entertained and was even adorable in his sleep! Katy and I both got several things done... Katy finished up a baby album for a friend who is having a boy (it's SOO cute!) and I worked on designing a baby blanket for a friend who is having a little girl (if you look at this blog Lesa, don't look at the pictures below... it's suppose to be a surprise!) and then worked on cutting out the pieces for our Christmas cards this year. We had a great time and I'm already looking forward to our next craft date!

Grant taking a quick nap on the futon.

I can't wait to get started on this baby blanket!

I didn't stay inside today....

I simply couldn't. Under the circumstances (i.e. the smoke/fires, the heat, and the pregnancy), I probably should have... but I had to go shopping today. Mainly because today was the last day that my "Grocery Game" list worked, but also because, well, I wanted out of the house! Below is all my "loot" - most of it is not for us... hidden in the bags are Christmas presents, materials for Christmas cards and finishing up current projects, a gift for Bridget's classroom, and well, groceries. And for all the rest of you coupon-ers out there - check out thegrocerygame.com... it is the primary reason why I was able to get all those groceries for a mere $6.87! Not up to my usual savings, but pretty good when you consider that the mouthwash alone is regularly $5.49 at that store!! :)

Yes, we are fine...

and no we're not on fire. Though the fires are practically surrounding us, we are at least an hour away from the nearest one. HOWEVER, when we woke up this morning, everything outside was covered in a layer of soot and all day today you could smell the smoke. I tried to get a good picture of the sky, but I'm not sure that you can really tell how smokey the sky has been all day. Needless to say, I stayed inside as much as possible!!

No, that's not dirt on the ground... it's ash!

40 Days of Purpose

Today we're starting 40 Days of Purpose with Saddleback Church! Both Ben and I are pretty excited about it even though we've done the program before with FBC Moore. What makes it even more exciting is the fact that our pastor is leading it... Pastor Rick Warren! The author of the book, The Purpose Driven Life! During today's service we were able to hear Ashley Smith's (now Robinson) testimony... just in case you don't remember who Ashley is, she is the Atlanta girl who was taken hostage by an escaped convict and read portions of The Purpose Driven Life to him... essentially saving her life and his. And for those of you who are interested, you can go and watch the same sermons that we are seeing online at Saddleback.com!

Surprise!

Wow. That's about all that I can say about today! Ben and I left the house for what I thought was going to be a pretty laid back day... lunch with the Beverly Hills gang and then Ben was going to go bowling with the boys. Well, once we got back to our house, I realized that Angie, Katy, and Ben had other plans! They threw us a surprise baby shower! I had no clue!

So, here's how it all went down.... Ben and I left for On the Border (only the favorite food of this pregnant lady) and though I thought we were meeting all the guys, we were pleasantly surprised with a lunch date with Cody. And though I was sad to not get to see everyone else, any day that I get to eat a good meal with my buddy Cody is a great day! :)

After finishing up lunch, we headed back to our house... little did I know that my girlfriends were there waiting for me! Below is a picture of them waiting for us to get there... everyone minus Katy, that is!

Here's a couple of pictures that Angie took from the shower.....

The letters are actually cookies!!

The clothes were a gift from Angie and Katy... and very cute decor too! :)

All the girls together!

Meanwhile... the Ben and the boys were bowling....

And, just for the record... Ben came in second both games. ;) After everything settled and the shower was over, it was time for Ben to get ready to go to LAAFB's Dining Out (a military banquet). We had decided a while back that I wouldn't go (primarily because I didn't want to have to buy another dress...) and now I'm glad that I didn't - I needed a nap! Ben looked pretty good in his mess dress I thought...

Today was nothing short of a surprise and a happy one at that.

Thank Goodness It's Friday!

Today was a whirlwind day! It started out with an OB appointment, during which Ben and I found out that Noah weighs approximately 4lbs 4oz!!! Our Dr. says that he is measuring as if he was due on December 17th, a whole three weeks ahead! Now of course, we know that ultrasounds can be incorrect by up to 20%, but still! Needless to say, I'm a little freaked at the thought of a potentially 10 lb baby! (Please note that we do not believe this to be solely because of my diabetes... Ben was 10lbs, and both of my sisters were over 9lbs. Let's just say that I'm hoping Noah takes after his Mommy and is around 7lbs 9oz!)

Later in the afternoon, I left for my friend Carey's house for Bunco with the ladies from Cresson (the school that I taught at here in CA). I even won something for the Most Smilies (also known as a MiniBunco by some)! Here's a picture of it hanging on our door... it's a little different, but it's festive and besides the pumpkins that we have, it's the only holiday decoration we have up right now!

After leaving her house, I stopped by UPS to pick up my new transmitter for my insulin pump (YIPPEE! It's SOO much smaller!) I didn't post an actual picture of it in action... maybe I will later! :)

And then it was off to Angie and Greg's to pick up Ben... of course, first the girls had to beat the boys (3-1) at Euchre! The perfect end to a very busy day!

The Latest Smile

This afternoon, my dear friend Tamieka and I, along with her little boy, Christian, went to eat lunch at The Green Onion - a great little mexican food restaurant in San Pedro. Christian kept us laughing with his silly antics... here's a picture of his "latest" smile:

28 Weeks Today

We made it to 28 weeks (7 months!) today! Both Ben and I are a little excited for my appointment on Friday to see just how big Noah is now!

The First Post!

Like my dear friend Angie, I've decided to keep a blog... however, I've decided to keep this one for longer than a year. The idea is the same though - at least one picture a day to document what is going on in mine and Ben's life. I'm starting it today because it was exactly five years ago this very day that Ben and I met, thanks to my middle sister Bridget. And it also happens to be my parent's 31st anniversary! I couldn't think of a better day to start this!

For my parent's 31st anniversary, I made them a pineapple wall quilt... anyone who knows my parents (especially my Mom) know that they love Hawaii and everything about it. They even have pineapple light fixtures outside their new house! I knew that they would love this, especially since it was handmade.

Also, today in the mail, we recieved a package from my Grami and Papa Snow and look what was in it!

Grami said that when she saw the "Oh! the places You'll Go!" onesie, that she HAD to get it for Noah... it's perfect, especially since my high school graduation speech was based on that book by Dr. Suess! I can't wait to see it on him and I know that they can't wait either!