Baby Shower

I had my baby shower yesterday (Saturday) and it was fantastic! It couldn't have gone better. We had 20 people come and honestly, I couldn't believe how many presents I got! I was overwhelmed. I got a bathtub full of bath stuff, a playyard, high def digital baby monitor, and TONS of clothes...on top of a million other items it seems! My mom made matching Christmas aprons for me and Kira to wear when we make Christmas cookies together. She also made all the nursery stuff (curtains, crib skirt, quilt, etc.) and gave to me as a shower gift, plus some hand-knitted sweaters. :) It was so much fun.

The funniest part was the cake. It had a little topper of a baby on some leaves that we thought was fondant, so I made big plans of taking it home carefully and freezing it and using it on Kira's first birthday cake. Then when we removed it and happend to turn it over, there was a little gold sticker that said "Made in China". LOL Oh well, it's plastic...makes it easier to keep for a year! :)

Slideshow with a few pictures...
http://s514.photobucket.com/albums/t348/mpurkis/Baby%20Shower/?albumview=slideshow

Harvest is beginning

My tiny little tomato plants have grown into 3 out of control tomato bushes! I have tomatoes coming out of my ears, particularly my Roma tomatoes. Since I personally don't like tomatoes, but I love tomato juice, I am juicing all my tomatoes, cooking the juice with some salt and a bit of sugar, then freezing the juice so I can enjoy it all winter long. It's SO yummy!











I have also started my first batch of homemade blueberry liqueur. It's basically vodka, fresh blueberries, and sugar. It will be ready on October 25th, so we'll look forward to seeing how that goes. If it's delicious, I will start making lots of homemade liqueurs.

Autumn is just around the corner - more delicious treats to be created in the coming months!

It's a girl!

We had the ultrasound yesterday and everything so far looks fine and normal. We are having a girl - saw definite girl parts and no boy parts at all. She is very very cute and I am very excited to be having a daughter :)

Her name is Kira Louise and she is due to be born on 12/25/2008.

It's moving!

Today I felt the baby move for the very first time!!! It was so incredible!!!

I know 15 weeks is early, but I've researched and it is possible, even for someone with their first. I may not feel it again for a while, but it was definitely baby and not gas. It was a cross between a fluttering feeling and a muscle spasm-like twinge. It was deep down in, slightly below and to the left of my belly button. It was right where the baby was hanging out the other day when I was at the doctor.

I'm so excited, now poised to try to feel it all the time, even though I know this early the fluttering will be few and far between. I can't wait to start feeling it more - it's amazing!!

Ba-Bum...Ba-Bum...Ba-Bum...

On Monday I had my 12 week appointment and we heard the baby's heartbeat for the very first time! It took a minute for her to find it. At first all we heard was my slow heartbeat and some swishing noises...then all of a sudden, a fast, strong little heartbeat. 156 beats per minute. And that was our little baby, just growing away in there. It was one of the most awesome moments of my life. I was so happy and relieved to know that a) there really is a baby in there, and b) that it so far is alive and strong.

We also got to schedule the ultrasound for 20 weeks. On July 11th we will find out what we're having - I can hardly wait!

In the meantime, I am constantly poking at my abdomen trying to feel the baby and counting the days (24!) until my next doctor's appointment when I get to hear that beautiful heartbeat again.

Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day weekend has finally arrived and marked the unofficial start to summer. It also pretty much marks the unofficial end to planting season - the planting season that lasts all of about 2 weeks if you want to get stuff in before autumn frost.

My garden is finally in the ground! I have to give much credit to my husband who dug all the holes for the plants and my mom who planted everything...and pretty much picked everything out too. I am awful with trying to visualize what something will look like; I'm much better at maintaining it once it's already there. All the vegetables that I had preplanted back in April have died. I put them in the ground and they lasted less than 24 hours before they just tipped over and gave up. Sigh. So it was off to the nursery to buy new plants.

This time I have planted tomatoes, chives, parsley, dill, carrots, green beans, strawberries, and raspberries, plus a variety of flowers.

So here is the overall shot of the garden. It looks small, but it's actually bigger than I thought I'd have this year, so I'm happy with it.

Some of the things you see above are my 3 tomato plants (Roma, Beefsteak, and Bush Champion)

Also my flowers and bushes...

And of course, no garden would be

complete without a catnip plant and

a kitty to watch over it!

8 Weeks!

So it's been exactly 1 month since I last posted and also exactly 1 month from the day I found out I am pregnant!! So needless to say I've been a little distracted over the last 4 weeks and have woefully neglected both my blog and my sad little garden.

The garden is still growing, however, and most plants are flourishing, although begging to be put into some real ground. We have dug up the garden plot (courtesy of Joseph and my dad) and tonight we'll be shopping for some shrubs and flowers to mix in with the vegetables. I also have 2 raspberry bushes to plant, as well as hanging baskets of grape tomatoes and strawberries. Hopefully I will have the energy I need to get stuff in the ground this weekend and next weekend, as this is the heart of the wee little planting season that we get here in Michigan. If I wait too much longer, I won't be able to harvest anything before the frost hits.

So stay tuned!! I will be updating with actual photos soon, I promise!