Friday, July 26, 2013

Week 14: Baby's Gotta New Home!

It's moving weekend! Just got the call from the realtor that we have officially closed on the house, and now just waiting for her next call so I can go pick up our key! We won't technically have access to the place until about 4pm tomorrow, when I have carpet cleaners scheduled to come do the whole house. And the big moving day will be Sunday... we're picking up the U-Haul and my parents are meeting us up here to give us a helping hand with all the heavy stuff. Dennis & I were able to complete our move to Prescott all on our very own, but with me being pregger, I guess there is a limitation to how much I can lift ;) We can't wait to get in the house so we can start making it our own and envisioning what we want to do with certain rooms! It only took us a year and a half of trial & error to finally end up in OUR home... The House of Lamb!

Tummy has very much grown this week (even though people still probably laugh when I try to show off my bump, it is growing to quite an impressive size to me, and all I want to do is snap photos of it and show it off! I love the bump. He or she is the size of a lemon already, about 3.5" long. We'll be heading to a 16 week appointment in 2 weeks, and then I've scheduled the big 20 week gender reveal appointment for Thursday, September 5th. I wanted to make it for that Friday, before we head to Sedona to celebrate our 1 year anniversary, but the Ultrasound Tech was out that day... so Thursday it is. As of now, I'm wanting to have the Dr. write the baby's gender on a card in a sealed envelope and we'll later open it once we're in Sedona. That would be so cool if we can actually have the will power to wait until then. I would love to open it at the top of an awesome hike.

I've made two baby purchases this week, as well as received an adorable gift from G-Mama Lamb in the mail! She sent us a "Mr. Lambers" Belly Blanket that is the cutest, softest thing I've ever seen :) Then I found the most perfect blanky that is microfiber fleece, kiwi with white polka dots, with a baby Giraffe on the front, and I ordered a ERGOBaby Baby Carrier today off amazon. It looks amazingly comfortable, has back support, cushy shoulder straps, and will last allll the way until baby weighs about 40 pounds (supposedly). I won't receive it for about a month as it's being grouped with a infant insert i also ordered that wasn't in stock.

And, just got the text that our KEYS to the new home have ARRIVED! Off I go!!

 

Appetite holding strong... just a typical Sunday mornin' breakfast ;)
 

ERGOBaby Baby Carrier & New Giraffe Blanky

 
Mr. Lambers Belly Blanket




Friday, July 19, 2013

Week 12 & 13: Birthday and Keuka NY

Constant hunger. I've always had quite an appetite, but seriously, after having a full breakfast at 6:30am consisting of a fried egg, english muffin and mixed fruit, I just felt compelled to buy a 6" Italian BMT at Subway and devoured it by 10:15am, and still feeling hungry. With no doubt, I will be hungry for another full lunch in about 2 hours. Oye! It's been 2 weeks without an update- NY kind of interfered with that! So lots of updates, but I'll try to keep it brief.
 
2 weeks ago, we celebrated my Birthday a few days early down in Phoenix. Dennis & I had a sushi dinner at Sapporo (shh, at least I kept it mostly to Salmon sushi and a little Yellowtail) our favvvvorite. He surprised me with two 60 minute prenatal massages, 1 for each of my remaining trimesters. It made me cry, ha!! He always surprises me and makes me feel so special, reminding me why I love him so... that, and ya know, hormones ;) We headed to dessert at Flemmings after dinner, and had ordered our reminiscent chocolate souffle, however, they've apparently switched to a chocolate lava cake. Combined with two Lattes and ice cream, it was heaven.  The next day Dennis headed back to Prescott to get some extra work hours in before NY, so I had a date with Maren, just the two of us like old times :) We headed to her favorite vegan restaurant called The Loving Hut, and ordered a yellow curry dish with fried rice- amazing! Was so great to see her, and she gifted me my first stretch mark oil & body cream, along with some pregger herbal teas, yum! Monday was my actual birthday, so I headed to Fountain Hills for a bday lunch with Nanni at my old college-days employer, EuroPizza, and headed to a Physical Therapy appointment for her after we grubbed. Was good to spend some time with my Nanni :) The next day was a catch up session with Lizzy, Augustine & Baby Ella! We went to El Dorado Aquatic Center which was so perfect for the little ones, they had such a blast, "big boy" Augustine didn't quite want to leave when it was time to! It was so fun.
 
I dropped Beezer off at doggy-day-care on Wednesday and Denny met me back at my parents house. Moments later, we were headed to the airport and finally en route back to good ol' Keuka Lake, NY. It was such a quick trip, but I am sooo so so glad we got to go. We're already hoping for a trip next summer. That place is just full of memories and nostalgia, and truly feels like home being on the lake. It was awesome introducing Dennis to the remaining family members he had yet to meet (Aunt Nancy, Uncle Ernie, Uncle Pete, and the entire Wheeler clan). We pretty much fell asleep on the boat as soon as we reached the lake Thursday afternoon, which is the most relaxing place you will ever fall asleep. Enjoyed some slices of Betty-Kay Birthday Carrot Cake before dinner (not too smart ha) and then further stuffed our already stuffed stomachs at the Switz. Friday, we met up with Aunt Nancy & Ernie at Bully Hill for some NY Wine Tasting, later visiting Heron Hill, Dr. Franks, and Keuka Brewing Co. as well. Dennis loved it! Later we had some lunch (and a continued happy hour) on our cottage dock, and before we knew, it was time to get ready for dinner with the Wheelers at the Waterfront. We took the boat over across the lake in windy conditions, and my Dad about took out their patio seating area while trying to dock the boat. Naturally, my Grandpa said "Clearly, he's been livin' in Arizona too long and has forgotten how to navigate in water ;)" Was great to see everyone there, and my Grandma did pretty well for such a long outing. My favorite part of the night was Grandma saying: "So your last name is Lamb now... I like Lamb Chops." Made me giggle. My Grandpa & her are so good to each other and still play around and mock each other after all these years. I love that I come from a line of families I can look up to and model myself after. Early mornin' Saturday, Dennis, Mom & Dad took their turns water skiing on the glassy lake. They all got up first try, no wipe-outs, but a close call for Dad ha! My lovey Christine came to visit a bit later, we took a picnic lunch out on the boat (despite the clouds, again!) and hung out for a long while. We then got ready for Dinner in Watkins Glen with Nancy, Ernie, Pat & Pete, but got to meet up with Brockway & his Fiance Lori first for a quick bit before. Dinner was at the Seneca Lodge, Patty brought our baby's first book, "Lots of Lambs"... it's absolutely adorable. After stuffing ourselves with some amazing ribs, we somehow found it in us to head to Dad's most favorite past-time ice cream joint, "The Great Escape". YUM. We always went there whenever I had a soccer game in Watkins Glen. We said our sad good-byes and returned to the cottage for one last evening. Listened to the sound of the waves hitting the wall, watched out over the lake at all the cottages dimly lit, and tried hard to soak it all in until we can next return.
 
Baby traveled just fine in my belly, although, seems to have grown quite a bit in the last 2 weeks! I'm officially saying good-bye to the 1st trimester, and headed into the 2nd. Ready to move into our new home next weekend, for a return trip to Cali for Dennis' birthday in August, an anniversary trip to Sedona in September, Maren & JP's October wedding in Oahu, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 2014... then ready to meet our BABE! <3
 







 

Friday, July 5, 2013

Week 11: Heart

This week has been filled with Heart.

First, we received confirmation that we needed to be out of our rental home by the end of July. So for about a week, we thought we'd be needing to find a place to live for a month, until we could move into our new home. That option was most likely going to be a costly 5 week long Hotel stay, Monday-Thursday nights, and driving back and forth to Phoenix every weekend to save money and stay with my parents. It would have been a very difficult month. And then to our heart's surprise, we found out late Tuesday that the Sellers have actually accepted an offer on a new home, set to close July 26th, and we would have the ability to move in by the 28th, ironically enough, the same day we need to be out of our rental. On top of that, their Handyman they wanted to use for the repairs was booked the whole month of July, so they are now using a licensed contractor as we had first asked for!! Couldn't have worked out any better, although we realize they still need to get through an escrow process now, and we are still waiting on our appraisal, which should come in today.

In very sad news this week, and with very Heavy Hearts, there was another wildfire that broke out near the town of Yarnell about 30 miles southwest of Prescott. It started small on Friday evening, then blew out of control Sunday when monsoon storms (without rain) came gusting through and sooo sadly overcame 19 of our Prescott Hotshot Firefighters. This is the worst firefighter casualties since LA's Griffith Park fire in 1944 (besides 9/11 of course). It has devastated the town and broken so many hearts, but it's at least heart-warming to see so many members of our community putting up honorary memorials all over town for these brave 19 men and their families. Posters, flags, purple ribbons, flowers, pictures, you name it... people are finding a way to express their deep sorrows and sympathies for this. It will never be forgotten. We owe our own personal thank you to this very crew who helped save our lives and possessions from the Doce Fire just 2 weeks ago. They are everyone's personal heroes in this town. Blessings and severe gratitude to each of them. We went to the Prescott Rodeo yesterday to celebrate the 4th, they did such a nice tribute to the fallen men, and recited a prayer. The rodeo was very fun to watch (although nerve-wracking with some of the stunts they pull... man!)

And lastly for our Happy Heart experience this week. I had to reschedule my Dr. appointment that was on my birthday to today, July 5th, as we are heading down to Phoenix tonight to babysit Baylee until we leave for NY on Wednesday night. Dennis has to return to be able to work Sunday-Wednesday, but I'll be staying down there to keep babysitting and have some birthday dinners/lunches with Nani & Maren, and meeting up with Liz Tuesday to finally meet her little girl Ella! So, went to the Doc today instead, and I was soooo excited to hear our little baby's heart beating very strong, this time at 162 bpm! It was absolutely the best birthday gift I've ever received to be able to hear that heartbeat again (for the first time using the Doppler!) I couldn't ask for anything else, purely grateful <3


 
VIDEO of the heart beating!!!
 
Dennis Brat & Liquid Amber Happy Place @ the Rodeo
 
 
 Last image captured by a Prescott Hot Shot of the Yarnell Fire
 
The brave heroes we will never forget