Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Pre-Baby Birthday

My 28th (gasp!) birthday was Sunday. It was pretty low key, as birthdays go...but was exactly what I needed.

Friday morning Betty had breakfast waiting on my desk when I got to work - a chicken biscuit, hashbrown and a coke. The perfect birthday breakfast!

Friday night we followed tradition and celebrated with my Supper Club gals and their men and babies. We had a fabulous dinner at Brio and met Amanda's fiance! I got some adorable goodies from Amanda & Mason and a gift card from Betty. PERFECT! Thanks, gals!

P.S. Amanda, we are so happy for you and Scott and pray that God continues to bless you both as you prepare for a lifetime of happiness together!

Saturday Ben finished painting the nursery. It looks sooooo good! I was so smart to marry someone even more OCD than me. I was able to hand over the reigns paintbrush to Ben knowing that he would be even more picky than I on the details. The color is exactly what I wanted and looks so pretty! While the paint dried, we went to Habaneros for dinner and came home to watch a movie. (Mexican and a movie at the house is pretty much a perfect night for me.) Because I am the most awesome wife ever, I chose to watch Ben's all time favorite movie with him - A Few Good Men. I had never seen it and actually liked it a lot!

Sunday I headed up a Surprise 20th anniversary party for my boss, Rick. I had spent the past few weeks stressing, worrying and praying that everything would go as planned. Why I doubted that God would handle this is beyond me. It could not have gone any better. We surprised Rick and his wife, Lisa, by calling them on stage and congratulating them on 20 years of loving service. They were shocked that we were even honoring them and then - SURPRISE again - their kids came in town to be with them on this special day. The best part of my day was seeing the look on Rick and Lisa's faces when they realized 2 of their 4 kids and their families were walking down the aisle toward them and one of their granddaughters was running to meet them on stage. We then presented them with a scrapbook of letters from the congregation, roses, an engraved clock and an all expense paid weekend at a B&B. After church, we had a "family meal" with our entire church. Hundreds of people stayed to eat lunch, watch a slideshow of photos of the honorees and fellowship with each other. It was a great day!

That night Ben said we could do anything I wanted. I chose to go to dinner, Target and see a movie. We saw Dinner for Schmucks. It had some really funny parts, but it had some super awkward parts too. I am still trying to decide if the funny parts outweighed the uncomfortable ones. But I had a lovely evening with my husband nonetheless.

When I got to work on Monday Misty had 4 cupcakes from Edgar's Bakery waiting on my desk and Shannon had left a case of coke tied up with a ribbon. I am such a bad pregnant girl for eating like this and drinking cokes - but my doctor says I am allowed 2 a day and there is rarely a day that I don't meet my daily "requirement".


I literally received well over a hundred texts, phone calls, emails, facebook messages and birthday cards. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. THANK YOU, GOD for all my my blessings!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

He Will be Loved...

Maybe it is the pregnancy or maybe it is just the fact that my heart is overfilled with joy, but these past couple of months I have been overwhelmed with happiness. I have never been so aware of the blessings in my life as I am right now. God has truly blessed me. I don't deserve it. But I am thankful just the same.

When I think about how blessed I am to be bringing a baby into a world where he will be surrounded by the love of so many family members, friends and a God that is everlasting - my chest swells up. Below are things I want to remember years from now. I don't imagine that I will forget them, but I am documenting them here nonetheless. Feel free to skip this post...it is really just something I want to be able to remember to tell Asher one day. So he will understand how much he is loved and how much he was loved before he was even born.

I am grateful for my husband, a man who loves me unconditionally, serves me with all he does, and is so excited about the arrival of his son that he beams with joy. One of the things I love most about Ben is his childlike attitude. He gets so giddy and excited and I can't help but feel the same when I am with him. When he gets home from work he gives me a hug and a kiss, inquires about my day and then puts his hand on my belly and asks how "the boy" is doing. He tells Asher "good night" every night. And he comes running every time I exclaim, "He's moving!" I can't imagine a better partner in this journey. Ben is a caretaker. He takes wonderful care of me and I know he will do exactly the same for Asher. We are so blessed to have him.

I am also thankful for a family that loves us and looks forward to the arrival of its newest addition with so much excitement.

Ben's brother, Steve, and his wife, Anna, have given us so much baby stuff that I truly don't know what we would do with out their generousity. A crib, bumbo, changing pad and 2 covers, 4 sets of sheets, pack 'n play, boppy, lovies, blankets, Baby Bjorn, clothes, a rocking elephant and more. We LOVE everything they have handed down and appreciate it more than they know. They are coming to visit us next weekend and I can't wait to spend to spend the weekend with them and our two sweet nephews. Asher is going to have a blast learning how to be a Grizzle Boy from Reid and Sawyer.

Watching my parents reaction to the news that they were going to be grandparents may be one of my favorite memories of all time. I have blogged about this before. But it is worth repeating. They were overcome with joy and the happiness on their faces says it all. I am so glad we have this moment captured on film!



Yesterday, my mom emailed me this picture of cupcakes she was practicing making for Asher's shower. Some of mine and my mom's dearest friends are throwing me a shower in a couple of weeks. My mother wanted to make the cupcakes for it. And she wanted to make them herself. She was so excited about them. When she emailed me this picture she was disappointed in the way they turned out and said she was going to hire someone to make them instead. But I thought they were perfect! Not only were they adorable, but seeing my child's name on something my mom had spent all day working on, made me cry. Asher is going to be one lucky little guy to have grandparents that love him so much!


Ben's parents are super excited too. Ben's sweet mom emails me every Thursday and calls to see how "Peanut" and I are doing. Because of our schedule's, traveling to South Carolina for a shower was starting to look impossible. Elaine had the idea for her and Ben's aunts come here to treat me to a girls weekend instead.So in September they are going to come spend a weekend with me - shopping, eating and helping to finish up last minute details before Asher's arrival. It means the world to me that they would all come this far to make Ben and I feel special and help us get ready for this change in our lives.

We have two showers here in Alabama. Our church shower and our CORE Group shower. I have talked about our CORE Group on here before, but they really are our family away from home. I don't know what we would do with them. They were the first people outside of family to hear our good news and I can't think of any group of people I was more excited to share it with. They have prayed for our pregnancy from early on and I know their prayers are being heard. It feels wonderful to know that our baby is being bathed in the prayers of so many wonderful people.

My Supper Club girls have already showered us with gifts and love. Asher's closet is full of items Betty just happens to find "on sale" and just HAS to get for Asher. Some of my favorite items have come from her.  Because I work with Betty, she probably hears me talk about being pregnant more than anyone. She listens, advices well when needed and makes me feel like she is just as excited as I am.  Amanda and Mason are going to be and awesome auntie and cousin too! I look forward to Mason teaching Asher to be as adorable of a little boy as he is.


And finally, I can't make a list of people we are thankful for without mentioning our church family. Every Sunday, I am surrounded by people telling me how excited they are for our little one to get here. They are throwing us a shower a week from today and 7 of my favorite women are hostessing it. I can't wait to celebrate this occasion with everyone and let them know how much I appreciate them being in our lives.

So...while I realize I am super sappy right now and have let my pregnancy hormones turn me into a blubbering pregnant woman, I am glad for the opportunity to reflect on the people in our lives and to take a moment to jot down my thoughts - random as they were. If you read this to the end, you are probably one of the people I have mentioned above and I thank YOU for being in my life.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Organizing Our Recipes

Since we are on the topic of organization (see yesterday's post) I decided to share some of my fave tips. This is probably the one that saves my life the most...a Grizzle Family Recipe Book.

When Ben and I first got married I was all I-am-going-to-be-the-best-Souther-version-of-Martha-Stewart-wife-ever. I would sift through my plethora of recipe books and Southern Living magazines for elaborate June Clever-esque meals to make for Ben. I had visions of them coming out of the oven, steam rising from the top, whilst I was decked out in my pearls and perfectly coordinated sweater set and apron. We would sit down to a candle-lit dinner of squab and asparagus with a nice hollandaise sauce.

Insert screeching halt here. Ben doesn't eat that stuff...and frankly, neither do I.

So, I worked my way through hundreds of recipes before I finally found a manageable collection of recipes that suited us.

But after all of that work, I was left with a pile of magazine clippings, books with little post-it's saving pages and scraps of scribbled on paper in a drawer. I would have to rummage through them to decide what was on the menu for the week.

SOLUTION:
I bought a cute photo album. It is a binder style with sleeves that are portioned out to fit 4x6 photos. Mine fits 2 4x6 photos in each page. I typed out all of my recipes - 4 to a page, cut them into postcard size and inserted them where the pictures should go. I also created an index for it.





I do my meal planning ever 2 weeks. I usually just flip through the index to pick some recipes and then I can turn to the actual recipe to make my shopping list from the ingredients. It is a definite time saver! Anytime I find a new recipe that works well for my family, I make a new card and add it to my rotation


Of course, I still always run across recipes that I want to try. Today, my friend Rachel from over at "The Johnson's" posted a blog with a solution for those recipes as well. Check it out!

P.S. Once you compile your book of Family Recipes you can make copies for your mom, sister, friends, etc. They are great gifts! Especially for new wives.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Nesting Syndrome

This weekend Ben and I came out of the closet...after...we spent a lot of time cleaning them out!

I guess the nesting syndrome has hit. Ben seems to have caught it as well. Ever since seeing our little boy via the 4D ultrasound, we have kicked it into overdrive to prepare for his arrival. Ben put together 4 bookcases to help with organizing our current closet clutter and things are really starting to look great!

He has also started trimming out the nursery in the perfect blue color!

While I am excited about getting the nursery done there are also a lot of other things on my to do list. Here are the things I would like to get done before Asher makes his debut:
  1. Move former Bama room to ??? (I guess the future...I don't see us having an extra room for this for awhile) - CHECK!
  2. Move Guest Bedroom to former Bama Room - CHECK!
  3. Paint Nursery - CHECK!
  4. Buy Glider & Ottoman- CHECK!
  5. Make/Buy Drapes for Nursery - IN PROGRESS
  6. Make/Buy Artwork for Nursery - CHECK!
  7. Paint Asher's Bathroom
  8. Buy/make art for Asher's Bathroom - CHECK!
  9. Organize Asher's Closet - CHECK!
  10. Order fabric for Drapes in Office - CHECK!
  11. Make drapes for office - IN PROGRESS
  12. Build and organize bookshelves in office - CHECK!
  13. Organize Guest Room closet - CHECK!
  14. Organize sewing/craft stuff and gift wrap supplies - CHECK!
  15. Clean out Master closet (put up summer clothes and pull down winter wardrobe)
  16. Organize closet under the stairs - CHECK!
  17. Build bookshelf and organize DVD's on it - CHECK!
  18. Put up ceiling fan in Living Room - CHECK! THANKS, POPPA!
  19. Clean baseboards - CHECK!
  20. Clean blinds - CHECK!
  21. Clean out pantry - CHECK!
  22. Clean out kitchen cabinets/drawers - CHECK!
  23. Clean out Master Bath Cabinets/drawers - CHECK!
  24. Clean out Asher's Bathroom Cabinets - CHECK!
  25. Clean out linen closet - CHECK!
  26. Clean Laundry Room storage - CHECK!
  27. Clean out garage - CHECK!
  28. Clean out Living Room Table drawers - CHECK!
  29. Wash newborn clothes - CHECK!
  30. Pack for hospital - AS PACKED AS I CAN BE AT THIS POINT.

WHEW! It was exhausting just making that list. Better get started we are at 75 days and counting!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Bible Verse Friday

Blessing on your weekend!!

 

Monday, August 2, 2010

Asher Grizzle in 4D!

And you don't even have to pay extra for the glasses!

We went this morning for our 4D and to have my glucose test done. We are still waiting to hear back about the glucose test, but while we were waiting we spent the best $125 we have ever spent. We had 20 plus minutes of facetime with our little man. It was soooo much fun! The Ultrasound Tech (Amber - who is awesome, by the way) said he was showing off for us. She is 2 more weeks pregnant than I am and said she looks at her baby every morning on the ultrasound machine and never gets photos as good as we got from Asher. He is a little ham! He was smiling, yawning, stretching, opening his eyes, showing us his ear and his muscles, praying (such a sweet little boy, huh?) and even sticking his tongue out at us.We got a DVD of him doing his moves. Our parents are going to love it!

Besides the fact that I think he is perfect, he is measuring that way as well. We are measuring at 28 weeks and 4 days - which is 1 day ahead of my estimated due date. He weighs 2 pounds and 11 ounces and after 7 months of pregnancy I have finally gained ONE pound! Woo hoo!

Okay...without further ado...here is our little man!