28 years old and 28 weeks pregnant

I took this picture on my birthday a few days ago and thought I'd share it with y'all!  I thought it was kind of neat that I was turning 28 and I'm currently 28 weeks pregnant.  The pregnancy is going well, I went to the doctor earlier this week and everything is progressing along really nicely.  Healthy baby and healthy mama.  I'm officially in my 3rd trimester which kind of feels like the home stretch!  I can't wait to meet our boy! So here's some updates:

Cravings: the occasional BBQ chip binge, onion bagels and milk chocolate anything (not all at the same time though).  I've been eating a lot of citrus but I think that's mostly because it's the type of fruit that's on sale right now and I'm trying to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. 

We took a birthing class last weekend and I thought it would be traumatizing but ended up being only mildly scary. Honestly, I'm glad we took the class because I feel a little more prepared and like I have an idea of what to expect. Obviously, I have no idea what this labor and delivery will look like but I feel somewhat prepared.  

The baby's nursery is next on our to do list!  We're painting the walls green and will decorate with navy and white accents.  Lots of people have asked if there's a theme and there isn't, I just wanted to keep it as classic as possible.  We're almost finished fixing up our room so in the next week or so we'll start cleaning out his room (read:storage area) and get started. And yes, pictures will come one day, I swear! :) 

Hope y'all are doing well, thanks for being faithful readers!

welcome 2014!

I am an extremely neglectful blogger.  I always thought that with a baby on the way I would be blogging more and constantly posting baby bump pictures, funny how real life gets in the way and things go to the way side, right?  I will try to be much better this year, especially once the baby arrives as I know family and friends will want to be seeing pictures of HIM!  That's right, I don't think I ever announced officially on the blog but the baby is a BOY!  We are so very excited to meet our sweet boy in about 15 weeks!  15 weeks!  Oh my goodness, I cannot believe that's a real number.

Let me think of baby updates that will interest the blogging world...I had an ultrasound on New Year's Eve and I got to see more of my sweet boy because he was hiding the last time we went in for an ultrasound (before Thanksgiving).  This time he showed us his beautiful face and more body parts (he wouldn't show his fingers before and refused to let us get a profile shot but this time he was much more cooperative).  The ultrasound tech was even able to slip in a 3D picture of him, I was shocked!  They don't usually do them this early in the pregnancy (they like to wait until the 3rd trimester) but she wanted to see what she could get.  Here's the 3D picture of him:

What you can't see here is that the umbilical cord is going across his face which is why his nose looks a little funny and it wraps up in the picture so his fingers look a little funny too (the object next to his face is his hand/fingers).  But rest assured, everything is in perfect shape!  It's crazy how quickly things move around in there because a split second after she took the picture we could clearly see his nose and then the next second we could see all of his fingers.  I'm just happy to have a healthy baby and keep praying that he will stay that way.  His growth is on par with where he should be, he's in the 49% for weight which is great.  I'm in my 6th month now and from month 6-7 he should double in size (mostly adding fat, as you can see in the picture he doesn't have a lot right now).  So I can only imagine that I will be getting bigger as well.  I've noticed an increase in my appetite and I'm trying to stick to healthy choices although I'm definitely not perfect and have been grabbing BBQ chips (my most recent craving) and anything with chocolate on it.  Again, all in moderation.  I went for my OB check up on Wednesday (different than the ultrasound appointment, I have to go to a different office for that) and the doctor said that everything is going great!  My blood pressure is great, weight gain is normal and baby's heart is strong!  I couldn't ask for much more.  I just keep praying that everything will continue to go so smoothly.  I've been feeling him move around A LOT!  His favorite times to get to moving are around 11am-lunch time or a little after and late at night.  The boy is a wiggle worm around 11pm-1am and likes to throw kicks and punches.  While I was waiting on the doctor the other day I looked down and could see my belly moving.  Active child! 

We're signed up for birthing classes at the beginning of February, Lord help us.  Although I think I know a lot about the subject I know I'm going to learn sooo much and I can't wait to see John's face after some of the details!  We've purchased the crib and it has already arrived, yay!  The next room in the house to be painted is his nursery and for all those that are wondering we're doing green walls with navy and white accents for bedding/things around the room.  We have mostly decided on a name but not completely and we've chosen to keep it a secret until he arrives.  I think that's about it for the baby updates.

Now updates for us in general...we were able to travel a lot around the Christmas holiday.  My sister graduated from NCSU a week before Christmas so I was able to go down there and be a part of that!  We were able to celebrate a night of the Christmas season with my family before heading over to TN.  Mine and John's gift to each other was a few days alone in a cabin in Pigeon Forge.  Even though it rained the entire time, we made the most of it and had a great time just the two of us!  We then headed over to John's family and got to spend Christmas with them!  We had a wonderful time in TN for Christmas, it was great to see so many family members and some of John's old friends.  My sweet sister-in-law, Heather, and Kathy's best friend, Bev, threw a baby shower for me and baby boy which was absolutely adorable!  You can look at the pictures of the event over on Heather's blog.  The theme was "baby it's cold outside" and it was just wonderful!  I felt so loved and it was great to celebrate such an exciting time in our lives with the women in the family and some of Kathy's good friends.

My parents came for New Years so that they could see the ultrasound and they were awesome and helped us paint our basement!  The entire process only took a couple of days and if it weren't for them there is no telling how long it would have taken.  We have been blessed with so much help around the house from family.  I feel like the house renovation process has been taking forever but without our families it would be taking sooooo much longer!  John's parents have come up twice (bringing his aunt and uncle one time) and helped with most of the main floor paint (guest room, hallway, entrance way, living/dining room) and they helped build the fence in our backyard which Dixie is loving!  I promise I will post pictures of the house updates, I think I just want the house to be a little more "finished" before those go up.

Whew!  I feel like I just did a marathon update!  I hope you all enjoyed the glimpse into what's been happening lately, I promise to be better!

time flies...

when you're up to your eyeballs in busyness!  Holy cow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I updated this old blog.  I knew it had been awhile but A MONTH?!  Yikes.  And here I am, about to go on another hiatus.  So here's what has happened in the last month:

1. We continued to keep our house super, super clean while it was being shown to potential buyers.
2. We had our house inspected and everything was poked and prodded, a good review came at the end, thank goodness.
3. We went under contract with a buyer!  Thank you, Lord!  Prayers that everything will go well until our closing date (early June) would be appreciated.
4. We continued to pack up stuff in the house.
5. Family started arriving this past Thursday and stayed until this morning.
6. JOHN GRADUATED WITH HIS PHD THIS PAST WEEKEND!!!!!!! (can you tell I'm just a little bit proud?!)
7. While family was here we packed the majority of our belongings into storage (during graduation weekend, no less).  I want to say a huge THANK YOU to our family that came up and helped us move all day Saturday.  And for the prep Thursday night and Friday.  And for the clean up and extra packing Sunday night and this morning.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.  Not only was it amazing to see everyone and to celebrate John but I just felt so blessed to have everyone here pitching in with no complaints to help us move.  Seriously, a huge blessing.  Thank you times a million!

And now on to what our next couple of months look like:

1. We are leaving Pittsburgh for good on Wednesday and going to DC to look for a place to live (prayers sent up and fingers crossed).
2. We will then go to NC for a wedding for one of our friends that we actually got to know while living in Pittsburgh.
3. Visit John's family for a quick second.
4. Officially begin our road trip around the United States!!!!  I'm so excited that we are doing this!  We are going to be driving a big circle around the US, visiting lots of state and national parks as well as cool places along the way.
5. In the middle of the road trip we will be taking a couple of weeks to hike the John Muir Trail.  I am excited and scared all at the same time.  I've never done anything like this before.  But before you get worried for me please know that I have been training and planning for this for months.  A lot of physical, mental and emotional effort has gone into the preparation for this trip.  And I really hope that it will be amazing!  It will be, it will be.  
6. Visit family a little more at the end of our trip and finally arrive in the DC area where we will hopefully have a place to call home.

Phew!  I'm a little exhausted just typing all of that.  So now you know why I've been MIA and why I will continue to be for the next couple of months.  I might be posting things on here but you're more likely to find updates on Facebook or Instagram (jessilailkelly).  Thanks for sticking with me and check back here in a couple of months!  I plan to have plenty of pictures and stories to share with y'all!  Love ya!!

update

Hello, faithful blog readers!  Sorry I haven't been posting but we have been busy, busy, busy!!  Like crazy busy getting this house ready to be put on the market.  And I thought the house was halfway decent to begin with, ha.ha.ha.  There is a ton of stuff that you apparently have to do in order for it to be ready to "show" and God help us, hopefully someone will want to buy it.  Hopefully after tomorrow it will slow down a bit because oh my goodness, I'm not sure how much I can take anymore.  From the moment I got home Friday evening to the moment I went to bed Sunday night I was cleaning, doing yard work, packing and stowing away things.  John was doing the same.  Lord, I want my life back.  I haven't read or watched TV in ages!!  Ahh!  This too shall pass.

In the meantime, my old friend, Billy, (from the ol' high school days) tours with this amazing band that I had the pleasure of seeing on Thursday...here's one of their songs, you should definitely give it a listen!  I'll be posting more on them later.  My friend is the really tall one in the audience dancing to the left.  :)

lately...

Sorry I haven't been posting a whole lot lately.  I guess that's because a whole lot has been going on around here and I haven't had lots of time.  See, we're moving in a few months and in order for that to happen we have to: clean up our house (like really good because people will be coming in to look at it and hopefully they'll buy it!), pack up everything we own (ahhh!), look for another place to live in a whole different city, plan a huge "congratulations you're finally done with graduate school" trip, prepare for said trip, John has to prepare the defense for his thesis as well as wrap up every other little thing for school, graduate, attend two weddings in different states (that we're very excited about!), have a yard sale and continue on with our day to day lives.  Man, moving ain't easy!  Anyway, that's why I've been MIA and will continue to be.  Although there's lots of stuff I want to talk about so hopefully I'll be able to steal away a few minutes every now and then to update y'all.  For instance, here's two really great books that I've read recently.  You should check them out!

 

I also just returned from a fun filled girls weekend with my mom and sister!  We met in northern VA and had a weekend full of chatting, eating, drinking, shopping and hanging out.  I am so thankful for weekends like that and so very happy that we're all able to take time out and get together!  I really do miss those ladies.  Love y'all!  Here's a picture Katie took of us soon after we arrived and were reunited at the hotel...

snowy night

Last Tuesday (as in nearly two weeks ago) the snow came down, hard.  I went to bed at 12:00 a.m. and when I got up at 6:30 the ground was absolutely covered.  And school was cancelled.  That means serious business around here.  Here's some pictures that John captured of our backyard sometime between those 6.5 hours.  I have to say they're some of my favorite snow pictures we've taken up here.  I like that it's nighttime and our yard lights are shining beneath the blanket of snow.

back yard

lilac bush/tree 

another full back yard shot

neighbor's yard

By the end of Thursday all the snow had melted.  On Sunday it was 60 degrees.  Crazy weather...I blame global warming :)

day 23: a word

So, a few words.  We had John's ECE Winter Party last night and this was the program as well as my choice of entree.

Here's some more pics of the night: 

me and Anna

me and John

january wedding (avett brothers)

I LOVE this song and I've been listening to it all week so I thought I'd share it here.

birthday dinner

Here's a picture of us last night after my official birthday dinner at NOLA.

february photo a day

My sweet friend, Pamela, asked me to do this February photo a day challenge with her and I accepted!  Hope y'all enjoy this month of pictures!  If you decide to do it too link it up in the comments so I can see your pics :)

Note: I do not claim to be a photographer or have any photographic capabilities.  I am a (extreme) novice.

lately

I've spent my three day weekend watching this: 

I'M OBSESSED!

I watched the first season on Netflix months ago and my mother-in-law lent me the second season (which I'm happy to say I blew through in about a week and a half) and now I'm onto the third (current) season!  This show really is amazing, there's so much going on.  I love it!  I love all of the manners and how things were done a certain way, how people still dressed up really nicely for dinners, all of it.  And I have this funny habit of adapting the dialect of the book I'm currently reading or show I'm watching.  So in my head I'm speaking with an English accent and trying really hard not to use it out loud since my impersonation of an English accent is awful (but in my head it's perfect).  So yeah, that's what has been happening around here lately.

ice skating

The week before we left for NC, John and I decided to be festive and go ice skating downtown.  Let's just say that I am not coordinated at all nor do I have much experience with skating in general (ice or roller).  My anxiety going into this activity was off the charts.  And the people zipping around the rink doing triple axles didn't help either.  That last part was made up.  But maybe I saw one triple axle.  Anyway, bless John's heart, he was so patient with me and didn't get irritated/show signs of wanting to knock me out.  He demonstrated the correct skating method numerous times.  I tried my best to convince him that it simply didn't work that way for me.  Well it did, eventually.  I ended up having a wonderful time!  It was very festive and I loved being able to share that experience with him.  We went walking around downtown (dahntahn....how it's pronounced here, ugh) and took some pictures of the Christmas decor.

the tree at the rink, practically Rockefeller Center :)

I'm pretty sure right before this picture I said "John we need a picture now before I fall and need to be carried out of here!!".  Just a calm, festive evening skating around a tree.

dahntahn decor

John getting artsy with the decor.

sweet tree on the corner of a building

 

big park downtown with blue snowflakes and Christmas trees

 blue Christmas

big tree, from a distance

a little closer now

a cool bridge leading to the downtown park, I think it looks pretty sweet

this was like the 20th take of this picture, finally the three of us (tree included) fit in

The hotel on the left is where we stayed the very first time we visited Pittsburgh. Oh, nostalgia.

christmas party pics

I know I'm like a million days late posting these but better late than never, right?

friends waiting for dirty santa/white elephant to begin...

I'm pretty sure he got an old key ring filled with fake keys

Katie waiting not so patiently for her turn

Lucky her, she got a Stillers cup!  

Friends.  I was trying to get pics of our friends at the party but that doesn't work too well when you only take 2 pictures...

Me and John at the end of the party.  (Yes, I'm too lazy to crop and edit these pictures.)

I know Katie has a thousand more pics on her iphone so I'll see about getting those sent to me so I can post them (ahem, Katie...).

it's chrsitmas, y'all!

Things have been in full Christmas swing here lately and today is no exception because it's our annual CHRISTMAS PARTY!!  It look and feels like Santa's workshop here (Christmas elves included, i.e. me)!  I'm so excited to post some pictures from the night (probably tomorrow or a following day).  A lot of our good friends are coming and my sister is gracing us with her presence as well!  Yay!  This is probably our last Christmas party here so we'll make it good one!  Have a great Saturday y'all!!

lately

I know I'm pretty much the world's worst blogger...ever.  Sorry about that.  I'm just pretty inconsistent with updating y'all with what's going on in our lives.  Usually I cycle between being really overwhelmed with daily activities or there's absolutely nothing going on.  So here's us lately:

We were able to go to TN and spend Thanksgiving with John's family this year, which was a blast!  Our trip was filled with cooking, eating, chatting, football, spending time with family and even...Black Friday shopping!  That's right, Kathy and Heather braved the crowds with me on Friday.  The traffic and crowds weren't actually that bad, which was a nice surprise.  :)  I'm thankful for John's family and all of the time we got to spend together, it was simply wonderful.  Thank you, Kathy and Gary for the sweet hospitality :)  it was nice to be back in the South for a bit.  I'm already looking forward to making our way back down South for Christmas!

Once we returned to PA I went into overdrive decorating our house during every spare minute I had.  I'm happy to announce that our house is completely decorated for Christmas now, yay!  I've also been working on cards and baking.  Now if we can just get to that cleaning up part...hmmm, I feel like a kid when it comes to cleaning.  I have all the energy in the world when it comes to decorating/making a mess but it always seems that I'm just pooped out when that cleaning part rolls around.  Sigh, the troubles of being a grown up :)

And I'm so excited that Christmas movie time is in full swing!  We watched It's A Wonderful Life last night and darn-it if that movie doesn't make me cry every single time.  Then we watched a couple of (cheesy) Hallmark Christmas movies, and it was splendid!  I told John (as I do every year), "If I say it once, I'll say it a thousand times...I COULD TOTALLY STAR IN A CHRISTMAS MOVIE!".  He responds by rolling his eyes and nodding his head, to appease me, no doubt.  Now I love my Christmas movies but I'll be the first to admit that most of them are ridiculously cheesy and the acting is almost always sub par.  Which is why I could totally star in one.  One day, one day.

Now onto wrapping presents, yay!  I sure do love this season :)

this week

I finished this book the other night and I loved it!  What a great book.  It's a sweet story set in the Lowcountry about family, grieving the loss of loved ones and how to live through it all together.  Loved it, highly recommend it!

We had this for dinner tonight and it was: 

1. Super easy

2. Delicious

3. Healthy

So you should pretty much make it ASAP.  It's a great weeknight meal, seeing as it takes a total of 30 minutes (at the most) to make.  Yay!

(photo and recipe cred to: The Recipe Critic)

I read a review for this book in People magazine today and REALLY want to read it:

As soon as I started reading the review it reminded me of A Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs (which I read a couple of years ago and loved!) and it turns out the author was inspired by Jacobs' book and began her own journey which led to this book.  I'm very interested to read all about her journey.  I rarely buy books (full price at that) but this may have to be an exception.

So it looks like all I do is read and cook and well...that is pretty much my life.

i'm baaaaaack

I have a computer!!  Yippee!!  I feel so connected now, phew!  I've already trolled facebook, various blogs I follow, Dog-shaming and I've updated my status on Goodreads. There's a lot of stuff to take care of on the internet, people.  With that said, it was refreshing to not be connected to anything  (while I was at home I was not connected, I used an iPad at work for emails and occasional facebook checking) for a couple of weeks.  But now I'm back.  And here's what I have to say:

This show is amazing!  Country music, drama, Nashville, enough said.  I am hooked.

We watched this last night and it was great!  Acting was great and it was super dramatic.  I highly recommend it.

Currently reading this book and loving it!

it's official

My computer is deadsville.  It's gone.  But my ever-productive and on the ball husband found a new one for me (it was pink!) and his dad even had to go to Knoxville to pick it up (it wasn't available in stores around here) and they brought it all the way up here for their fall visit!  How about that for a family effort!  Sadly it did not pick up wifi very well unless you were 5 feet from the server.  That's not going to work, so he had to return it (I mourned yet another computer in just a few days...and it was pink!  Did I mention that?!).  So we're back to square one.  I'm stealing away some time on John's computer while he's asleep to make sure all my followers don't think I've fallen off the face of the earth.  It will still be a little while longer until I can regularly post, thanks for your patience. :)

However, John's parents did come visit and we had a wonderful time with them!  Thank y'all for making the trek up here!  John has come down with something and I think it's starting to creep it's way toward me.  So we'll be hunkering down, eating potato soup and doing nothing while this cold rainy weather takes over Pittsburgh.  Hope y'all are doing well and staying safe with Sandy on her way!

wild and wonderful

That's right, this weekend we went to wild and wonderful West Virginia!  Never thought I'd be excited to be going to WV but it was really fun!  We stayed at Black Bear Resort and were able to have our own cabin (that was dog friendly, yay Dixie!).  There was a wood burning fireplace (which we used both nights) and everything was so comfy and cozy.  During the days we went hiking and one night we checked out a local restaurant while the other night we stayed in by the fire with some yummy chili.  It was a great Fall trip and it was so nice to spend some time away from everyday life with John (and Dixie).  The area we visited in WV is Canaan Valley and I highly recommend it if you want to get away for a long weekend or even a week (it would be beautiful any time of the year).

With that said, my computer is still messing up and deciding when it does and does not want to work soooo I probably won't be posting often :(  We're working on maybe getting me a new computer...that's exciting and kinda crazy but here we go.  Hope y'all are all doing well!

it's been awhile

Just wanted to let y'all know that my computer has been broken for the past week and that's why I haven't posted.  It was interesting, at first I was having the DT's from not having a computer but then I began to really enjoy the freedom.  I wasn't trolling blogs or facebook and I actually went to bed earlier.  It was nice.  I'm going to try and keep to that, having minimal computer time.  We'll see how it actually goes.  Also, a big shout out to my husband who fixed my computer.  It was a $15 fix (some part on something that was broken, blah blah blah) but I'll tell you what; if he wasn't in my life I probably would've bought another computer.  So thankful he's in my life :)  Here's what I've been up to lately:

I saw this movie earlier tonight and it was pretty much amazing.  I read the book a few years ago and I was very impressed with how closely the movie followed the book.  If you're interested in seeing it you should know that it's an intense story, not a lighthearted one.  It was great though.

And I'm currently reading this book right now and enjoying it :)