A Week With Marley

Like I said in my last post, I cannot get enough of this sweet face. Last Thursday, I spent the afternoon at the hospital helping my sister and hanging out. Of course, I wanted to hold Marley every second that I could and got this angelic face.

Bri, Shelby, and Marley got to come home last Friday. We spent all day Sunday with them. We went to church together, got gorditas afterwards, and hung out at their house for the rest of the day. Chris and Shelby spent the afternoon playing Xbox, while the rest of us did this

We needed our nap and so did Marley.

Before Marley was born, I told Brianna that I would cook them dinner after the baby was born so they wouldn't have to worry about it. Brianna decided on chicken spaghetti for Tuesday night. I also made garlic bread, corn, and banana poke cake.

I'm so glad that I picked this new recipe. This cake was so good, yet so sinful. The moistness of the cake combined with the banana pudding and 'Nilla wafers was so tasty. You can find the recipe here.

After dinner, I was holding Miss Moo and I had to get this shot. She looks so peaceful and already different from last week. I could have held her all night and Shelby almost agreed to it, due to their lack of sleep.

My sis and I are in my cousin's wedding this weekend and Miss Marley will have her first official public outing. I doubt she will be put down for a minute. I will make sure to take plenty of pictures of the event...and of Marley.

Miss Marley is Here!

I'm a little late, one week exactly, to announce that Miss Marley made her arrival on July 24, 2013 at 5:09 p.m. I'm so glad that I was out of school and decided not to go to a workshop so I could be with my sister in this life-altering experience. My sis was admitted at the hospital around midday and we got to see her a few times before delivery. 

Here is my sis all excited to bring life into the world.

What we did in the waiting room. I let my dad borrow my iPad so he could look up Craig's List and my mom was busy Facebook-ing and playing Bingo.

Shelby's parents arrived around mid-afternoon along with Shelby's best friends. It wasn't long (4 hours) before we heard a lullaby over the speakers signaling that a baby has been born. We sat there waiting and questioning if it was "our" baby. A few minutes later, the nurse came through and told us Miss Marley is here and both mom and baby were doing great. We congratulated each other and exchanged hugs to celebrate this wonderful event. 

Shelby soon came out and we couldn't wait to congratulate the new daddy. He told us that she was 7lbs. 12 oz. and 19 1/2 in. long.

Thank goodness we didn't have to wait too long to meet Marley for the first time. 

Here is my first of many pictures of this sweet face.

This picture speaks so much to me. Seeing my sister naturally accept a new role of motherhood is unbelievable. Yes, she has been a mother since conception, but actually seeing the baby and my sister interact outside the womb was awesome. I love my niece and nephew that are already here through my brother and sister-in-law, but the bond between sisters is something that is hard to explain in words. I can only say that watching my sister through the journey of pregnancy and now motherhood is something I will never be able to duplicate with another person.

I love this face and just can't get enough of it.

The first family picture. I love the looks on their faces of sheer joy and excitement that their family is now whole.

I downloaded a new photo app and was busy playing with it at the hospital. I see so much of my sister in her and then the next second, I see my brother-in-law.

We made sure that we got pictures with Miss Moo, as I affectionately call her. We are smitten by her and will no less spoil her.

All of the intricately-made parts of Marley. Her little hands, toes, ears, nose, and mouth are so cute and needed to be photographed.

Now that Miss Marley is here, I am getting more prepared for Mr. Eli to make his debut. I can't wait for him to get here and meet his new family. He will probably be spoiled as well and I will go ahead and take full responsibility for it. Only 3 more months and we get to meet our lil' guy!

Smorgasbord #6

I tried another recipe from Pinterest. This one was so simple that I could have made it in my sleep. It only called for beef tips, onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup, and a can of Sprite. You can find it here. Seems like an odd combination, but this recipe was divine. I put it in the slow cooker all day. It made the meat so tender and the juice made a really nice gravy. I made mashed potatoes and peas to go with it.

Chris and I gobbled up the beef tips, but still had plenty of the juice. I put it in a container and used it for the next night and made chicken and vegetables with it. Combined with the tomato and cucumber salad, this was a perfect meal. This will be a recipe that is used over and over again.

If you've been reading my Facebook, you would know that one of our A/C units went out last week. It was time for this unit to be replaced as it was 26 years old!! It served its purpose. I hired my cousin's company to come out and assess it. Upon looking at the rest of the parts, they found that most A/C units aren't built like this anymore and we needed to do rewiring and add new vents. The price slowly creeped up, but it was a must.

This is the old unit on the left and the new one on the right. The new one is massive!! They told us that the more efficient it is, the bigger it is. It is efficient. It takes less time for this side of the house to cool and is much quieter. The old one was so loud that we would have to practically yell to hear one another if we were near it.

We added a vent in the patio, so the dogs now have A/C when we are not home and they are chilling. We are very happy with the service they gave. They were easy to contact, listened to our needs and concerns, addressed them in the most cost efficient way, and were able to complete this entire process in less than a week. We highly recommend JPH Mechanical.

This is one more major thing crossed off our list of house maintenance. We are still waiting on the attic insulation to be done. Windows are up next. These three things will be a big help on our electric bill and to make our home last another 30 years.

26 Weeks

Here I am at 26 weeks!! Hard to believe how far we've come. I didn't think I looked that pregnant until I compared this picture with my 22 week picture. Big difference! I definitely feel more pregnant with getting out of bed and my sciatic nerve kicking my butt, literally. Other than that, the summer has been good to us in Texas and I just keep drinking water and staying cool.

I've been cruising along living vicariously through my 39 week pregnant sister and now starting to realize that we need to start talking and thinking about some big things for Eli. 

1) We received a free crib and need to put it together to make sure that all of the parts are there

2) We need to move all of the junk out of Eli's room and start making it look like a nursery

3) We need to talk more about health-related things concerning Eli once he gets her, i.e., shots, birth plan, nursing, etc. 

4) Decide on how long Chris is going to take off for paternity leave

5) Start Eli's baby registry 

As you can see, we've got quite a list and a bit of time, but I know it's going to fly by.

At my 24 week check-up, the doctor said Eli looked good and his heart rate was at 153bpm. He didn't have any health concerns for me, which is always good. At my 28 week check-up (in 2 weeks), I will have to do the glucose test. I went ahead and picked my flavor of drink (orange) and have it sitting in my fridge. I'm not excited to do it, but I made the earliest appointment so that I wouldn't be miserable and starving all day. 

Smorgasbord #5

Here are some random happenings at Gilburthsire!

Since I'm off for the summer, I want to do all of these little projects that I've pinned on Pinterest. One I found here showed you how to put placemats in your refrigerator so that the shelves are easier to clean. This was a pretty easy job and inexpensive. The placemats cost about $1.50 each, but I found some that were 94 cents after I bought the other ones. I used 9 and even put them in the drawers. I did have to cut them down and use two on each shelf. They're working out pretty well and even liven up the fridge a bit.

A few weeks ago, we went out to see my dad's rock 'n roll band, Studebakers, play at a local bar. Brianna and I were joking that our babies were dancing. We both grabbed our bellies and Chris took the picture. I got a little sad when I saw this picture because my sis is due in just ONE WEEK and we won't have many more pictures like this. It has been a lot of fun to be pregnant with my sister and I'm going to miss all of the things we've done together. I know we will have much more fun with our babies interacting with each other, but pregnancy is definitely a special time with my sister.

One last thing. My sis bought this table awhile back and sawed it in half. They used one half for their house here

She asked if we wanted the other half and we happily said yes. I had been using a hope chest that was fairly low to the ground in the front door area and was wanting something different. My sis stained and painted the table last week in time for the party and we put it up. Chris put the Bible and Bible stand that his dad made for our wedding on the table and I put a few more 4th of July decorations on it. I am in love with this table as it adds a bit more character to our home. I can't wait to decorate it with each holiday.

 You can see the blue picture frame with the 4th of July subway art in it from another post. I'm having some ideas with that for our local church's bazaar silent auction that's coming up in September...

Our Pool Dream Part 2

When I last left on Our Pool Dream Part 1 Chris had filled the pool halfway and prepared to begin building the deck. The next weekend, Chris got up early to start the deck. You can see what looks like him scratching his head and in deep thought. This deck was a bit different than the one he built before and it took a lot of planning before he could actually do anything.

He got the outline of the deck down

My cousin, Dominic, came over to help finish the pool. They had to put the liner back underneath the top panels and secure it so it wouldn't slip. This process took longer than expected and it was nearly 6 before we called it quits for the day.

We needed to buy pool salt and concrete mix for the posts before the stores closed on Saturday. Chris suggested we take the old Jetta. This little tank chugged its way to Tractor Supply for 480 lbs. of concrete mix, to Wal-Mart for 250 lbs. of pool salt, and a filled up for a full tank of gas!! I was really worried that we wouldn't make it home without sparks flying from the bottom of the car with the extra 730 lbs., but she made it home!

The next morning, Chris set the rest of the posts and prepared to begin laying the deck.

By Sunday afternoon, I could see how high the deck was going to be

Chris finished the steps and began the puzzle of placing the boards down so they fit exactly.

We left the pool like this on Sunday and waited until Thursday morning (July 4th) to finish.

Chris didn't get home until 10:30 Wednesday night and got up even earlier the next morning to finish the deck before our guests came to our party later in the afternoon.

By 2pm (party starting at 3pm!!) Chris had this much done. He decided that he would not be able to finish the last section (left side of the deck) and put saw horses on it so no one would fall in. He also added railings so no one would fall off the sides. We have more plans for these areas, but they had to wait until after the party.

The final look of the deck and pool before the party

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 Chris really worked his tail off to get all of this done. I can't give him enough credit for drawing it up and doing it. He really is a handy man and I'm just so glad he has the patience and perseverance to do it all.

See our 4th of July Party in the next post!

4th of July

4th of July came and we celebrated by dressing up our dogs. Doris had a necklace and tank top and Mr. Bates had a hat and handkerchief. Don't they look excited for the festivities??

I bought Chris this shirt at Wal-Mart for $4 a few weeks ago. He said it looked ridiculous, but he wore it with pride and showed off his new homeland.

Before the party began (more like 10 minutes before), we put up the final touches to the deck.

I bought these wind socks at Dollar Tree and the paper lanterns I bought a few years ago on Ebay.

Once the guests arrived, the pool was the place to be. My grandad even got in!

Here is my sweet niece all decked out in her patriotic wear.

More guests arriving and celebrating

These two were so funny sitting around the fire with the big kids.

Our old neighbors even stopped by to say hello!

My brother and cousin cheesing it up!

And finally our old neighbor, Connie, and Chris showing off their "guns".

 

 We had a great time on 4th of July and it was nice to see everyone. We had plenty of food and conversations. We had to shoo people out at 1am so Chris could sleep before work the next morning. Our dogs were so worn out that they slept until 10am the next morning.

 We look forward to finishing the deck and another 4th of July party next year with one more person!

Canning Pickles With Grandma 2013

Last year was my first year canning pickles with my grandma. I had such a good time learning about canning and more about my grandma. My sister was a little upset because she couldn't be there so I promised her that we would make them again next year so she could learn, too. 

I said in my previous post that I bought the cucumbers at a local farmer's market. I didn't think I bought enough so I asked my dad to stop by there a few hours later to pick up more on his way home from work. I now had two bags of cucumbers to pickle.

When we got to my grandma's house we started to scrub the cucumbers and cut them.

Grandma didn't want her hair to fall into the pickles, but I think it was really because she didn't want to mess up her hair so she wore a shower cap.lol

We had to heat the cucumbers up and wait for them to change color before we could can them.

Grandma didn't let us do a whole lot of work mainly because she had her own system and didn't want us to mess it up. Eventually she let us prep the jars by putting in dill, canning salt, sugar, garlic, turmeric, and mustard seeds.

Once we got our own system down it became a bit easier and we were able to make our own jars of pickles.

Our first jars that will be ready in about 3 weeks. We made a total of 9 jars and gave a few to my grandma. I took home 5 jars, but I don't think they will last until next year.

It was fun to have this experience with my grandma and my sister. We got to kick back, listen to grandma's stories, and learn a new trade. I plan on canning pickles every year and eventually teaching my kids how to pick up on this family tradition.