Special Treat

A few weeks ago, my school sent out an email looking for pregnant women who would like to receive a free sonogram. I replied that I would love to! They explained that a group called Youth Making a Difference (Y.M.A.D.) would be hosting an after school presentation on life beginning at conception and wanted to showcase women at different stages of pregnancy. 

Before the program began they wanted to check the women to make sure that the baby was active and everything looked good. The sonographer asked how far I was and I said 18 weeks. She then asked if I wanted to know the sex of the baby. I truly did want to know, but Chris was not there with me and I really wanted to have that moment with him. I declined and tried my best not to look to close at the monitor to try and detect what the sex is.

After the initial check, the program began and they asked the moms to come up one at a time and have their sonogram projected on a big screen. It was really cool to see the different sizes of babies and how they acted in the womb. There was a mom at 13 weeks, 16 weeks, me at 18 weeks, and one more at 38 weeks. When it came to my turn, the sonographer quickly said look at what this little person is doing. My child was kneeling down and head bunting themselves against the womb. She noted that she sees many babies do this, but ours definitely has personality already. I figured it wouldn't be too long before we saw this baby's personality.

You can see the baby's position in the pictures below.

The group had a program made for the event and the babies were listed as special guests. I thought that was really cute and sweet.

 

The group also gave us gift bags for participating and sharing a personal part of our lives with them. This bag was jammed full with diapers, wipes, a homemade baby blanket, baby medicine kit, bath soap and lotion, and a head brace for the car seat. That was very thoughtful and kind. They were so grateful that we shared this moment of our lives with them. I didn't see it as a big deal until the kids came up and hugged us and thanked us. 

I'm really glad that I participated in this event and showed young people that life begins at conception. Even though I have not met this lil' person yet, I know that they are alive inside me and will one day call me mom. 

Grace Before Meals

We had a parish mission this week at church. Fr. John had been talking about it for a few weeks and proclaimed that this mission would open our eyes and renew our faith as we enter Pentecost. When we heard more about the priest coming to talk to us I learned that he is a chef and that drew me in to go even more. Anything with food sign me up!!

His name is Father Leo Patlinghug and he has a wide background. He currently has a cooking show on EWTN called Grace Before Meals. He was also on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and BEAT him!! 

For the first three nights he gave insightful and realistic talks on the saints, our Holy Mother, and the Eucharist. He found a way to speak to us and make us realize that we should be proud of our faith and embrace what the Church wants for us. He was hilarious and easily kept everyone's attention.

 I went with my mom and dad and several family members joined us each night. With each night I noticed that the church got a little fuller with people wanting to grow closer to God. The last night he did a cooking demonstration in the KJT hall and it was packed! He has such a wonderful way of preaching the word of God in an everyday life and funny manner. Fr. John did a great job on making this mission a reality and wanting his flock to be inspired to renew their faith in growing closer to God.

Here are a few pics from the last night

The crowd watching the cooking demonstration

Our dinner: Bacon and butternut squash with brandy sauce. It was absolutely, melt-in-your-mouth, delicious. To make the huge amount of food Aunt Tina got to help out and learn from him to make it for the big event. 

I bought one of his cookbooks, Spicing Up Married Life and had it signed by him.

I had to take a picture with him. He was such a sweet man and you can see how he has such a deep love for what he does. God is truly using him in as an instrument.

I want to start DVR-ing his cooking show and using his cookbook. My goal is to use one recipe form his cookbook a week.The cookbook also came with conversation starters for you and your spouse weaved into the pages to help you grow closer at dinner time. His big theme for the last night was to bring dinner back to the table. We see how quickly that has changed with the "fast food mentality" in our world, but we need to bring it back so we can keep our families rooted in faith. I want to start family meals at the table and begin with grace as we enter parenthood. Once we realize that we cannot do this alone, we can allow God to enter our lives and become a member of the family.

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend was Wedding Weekend!! We had two weddings to attend in one day. It was quite a whirlwind of fun. First was my classmate Kim's wedding. Her and her husband were married at St. John's with a beautiful Mass. The new colors in the church really brought out the reds and oranges in her wedding. The reception was held at the KJT and was just as beautiful. I only took a few pics and should have taken more to show off her decorations. Here are a few of my classmates and I with the exquisite bride. I loved her dress and it accentuated her body perfectly.

I got one pics of us. We haven't taken many pictures lately and we were a bit dressed up. I got Chris to wear a tie so I took the chance in taking many pictures throughout the evening.

We left Kim's wedding early so we could head to my cousin Nicholas' wedding later that evening. 

On our way to the next wedding

Nicholas and his wife were married at St. Thomas Aquinas in Dallas. This service was very nice and was led by one of our local deacons. 

It was nice to be with my dad's side of the family. We don't see them as much as we see my mom's side of the family. They had their reception at a country club with a delicious dinner and even better cake. I had the chocolate cake and could have devoured the entire thing.

My grandma was dressed up and I had to take a picture with her and show her off. Our iPhones just do not do justice in dark lighting.

Chris used his camera to take a panoramic shot.

One more picture before the busy day ended.

We had a great time seeing everyone and celebrating special days. Wish I would have taken more pictures of family and the events, but you tend to forget to do that when you're enjoying the celebration!

Kolache Making Class

A few weeks ago, I signed my sister and I up for a kolache making class. Although we enjoy these sweet pastries that are based in our heritage, it hasn't become a family tradition like making strudel or cheese rolls. My mother always said that they were too hard to make and she didn't want to fuss with them.

We were determined to figure out how to make them. There were about 20 of us that signed up for the class and we knew a few people which made it a bit easier for us to come out of our shells. We started out by making the dough. The dough making was very similar to making the dough for cheese rolls. There were only so many people who could make the dough, so the rest of us sat and watched.This was not the highlight of kolache making.

Our teaching chef, Betty. 

After waiting for the dough to rise we were ready for the fun part. We got to"pinch" the dough and make them into balls.

Once those rose, we were ready for the really fun part. We got to make little holes for the filling to go in and then fill them. We got to choose between apricot and cream cheese (my faves). Here is Bri sprinkling the streusel topping.

 They looked like mini pizzas.

Just about to go into the oven. Look at all that butter.

 

 Our finished product. Believe me, they tasted even better than they looked.

Now this was the best part of the entire process

I had a great time baking with my sister. I'm not sure if we will make these by ourselves, but maybe we can teach our family and make them together one day.

9 Weeks

I am now 14 weeks, as of today(!!), but I've been wanting to post this for a while(5 weeks!). It took me a long time to figure out how to make this (Chris figured it out) and how to post it. We made it on Word and then couldn't get it to go to the blog. We downloaded it as a pdf, I emailed it to myself, took a pic of it on my phone email, cropped out the time/battery/signal, posted it through the Blogger app, and tada!! It's finally here!

So this is me at 9 weeks. Honestly, I don't look much different now than 5 weeks ago. But since I just hit the second trimester mark(wahoo!), I think that will be changing soon. (I will post a pic and update for 14 weeks in my next post.)

"Spring, Spring, Spring"

On a previous post, found here, I showed you the flowers that bloom every year around our home. The previous owner had a lovely garden in the backyard with a pond and stepping stones. The person she first sold the house to pretty much let this gorgeous garden go. It's sad that we only get to see bits of it pop up every year. And on our ever-growing list of things to do this, sadly, falls toward the middle/bottom because of more important jobs.

This morning, as I looked out the window, I noticed all of these beautiful purple and white irises blooming. I wish they were in a prettier part of our backyard, but they definitely give the yard some color. I really like that despite what the other owner may have done, these flowers continue to bloom every year.

Revealing Lil' Gilburt

We revealed the pregnancy to my parents a few weeks ago at dinner and Chris' parents via webcam. Everyone was pleasantly surprised and excited for another little one to come around. My sister's little girl and our baby will be 3 months apart. I can't wait to see both of our kiddos running around with my niece and nephew.

I wanted to have a fun reveal for my extended family. Since I had told Chris via Scrabble, I figured it would be a fun way to show everyone else. My sis gave me a great idea. I usually make whoopie pies for every family function and was planning on making them for Easter at my grandad's. (I used my new whoopie pie maker, as my old one was worn out. Here is a link to my new one: Baby Cakes WH-24 Whoopie Pie M (Google Affiliate Ad)My sis told me to tape this picture underneath the whoopie pies and see how long it takes everyone to figure it out. I knew this idea was only going to go one way or the other. Either someone would figure it out in the first few minutes or it would be hours later.

Here are the whoopie pies awaiting to cover up the picture.

I printed the picture out from my computer and used a self-laminating sheet to keep it clean.

Getting close to covering it all the way

All done and you can barely see the picture

Now came the waiting game. 

You can see the gray top of the Pyrex dish just sitting there waiting for someone to open it.

An hour later....still no one has opened it

Finally, my sis dug in and took a few

We kept telling everyone to try my new recipe. So slowly they came...

And still slowly they came...

By this point, a small portion of the picture was showing, but no one had figured it out yet

Still not figured out yet...

Family started to get suspicious as we kept telling them to eat more. And they FINALLY figured it out!!

I love my aunts' expressions in this picture

The dish looked like this when it was finally figured out

 

Some were surprised and some responded with "We knew it!!" But all in all everyone was excited to have one more baby on the way. Before there were 5 first cousins pregnant. I just changed that number to 6! Our due dates are April, May, June, July (2), and October. The pregnant cousins took a picture together. 

I think we are going to run out of room at Christmas events. There are already 16 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. By Christmas there will be 15 great-grandchildren!! We are truly blessed and I know Meme is grinning ear to ear seeing all of these babies grow from her and my grandad's love.

There's Going to Be a Lil' Gilburt

Chris and I are happy to announce that we are expecting a lil' Gilburt!! 

Children were always on our list as a married couple. Since our wedding, we have been practicing NFP (Natural Family Planning) and seen how it has changed our view of marriage and family. After much praying, we decided that it was time for us to start trying for a baby. God works in mysterious ways because it didn't take too long before we found out that we have been given this wonderful gift.

February 17th changed everything. I went shopping with my parents the day before and just didn't feel right. I thought I was coming down with the flu and started googling my symptoms(googling my symptoms usually leads to me thinking I have cancer or will die in three days). Luckily, my symptoms all pointed to one thing...pregnant!

I took a test the next morning and right away it came back positive!! An emotional wave of shock, excitement, and pure joy came over me. I couldn't hold my secret for very much longer. I ran to the Scrabble board that we have and started to place tiles on the board. I walked back into the bedroom and asked Chris to take a look at it.

 

He was so excited and just kept laughing. I don't think he thought we would get pregnant so soon, either. I was only four weeks pregnant and wanted to keep this a secret for a bit longer to make sure this baby was going to stay with us. It was hard keeping my mouth shut and I only told a few confidants who swore to secrecy too. 

The crazy thing behind this pregnancy was everything else that was going on in our lives. The day after I found out about my pregnancy, I signed my contract for my new teaching job, we were in the middle of getting Chris a new car, and finally at the closing of our never-ending refinance for our house. I'm just amazed that I was able to keep my stress level down (or so I think) and that this baby made it through all of that.

I started to call around for doctors and found one that strictly uses NFP. I really wanted a doctor who knew the in's and out's of NFP and promoted it. When I called for an appointment, they wouldn't see me until I was 10 weeks! That felt like a long time to wait and hold my tongue.  

10 weeks finally came and Chris took a day off to go with me. I'm so glad he did because it was an experience that I would not have wanted to do by myself, for good reasons. Since I was 10 weeks, they were able to listen to the heartbeat and do a sonogram. 

First, they did the heartbeat. I was so nervous at this point because it was the test that proved if I was still pregnant or not. (I knew that I was, but this was the confirmation that this was real.) The nurse kept moving the detector all over my abdomen searching for the heartbeat and it made me nervous. It took about a full minute for her to find it, but when she did it was a racing heartbeat. I looked at Chris and his face lit up. It was one of those moments that I will never forget and will always cherish with him.  The baby's heartbeat was at a steady 170 bpm. 

Next came the sonogram. I was really excited about this one as we got our glimpse of what this lil' Gilburt looked like. It didn't take the doctor long to find him/her. He called the baby our teddy graham. I think we will call him/her our lil' Gilburt. Although the baby doesn't look like much right now, it is amazing to know that there is a baby inside of me that is growing and will call me mom one day.

Here is lil' Gilburt's first picture

 

The doctor gave me a due date of October 24. My calculations were only off by a day, October 23. We will know the sex of the baby around the beginning of June. This should coincide with our trip to England and we will reveal the sex to Chris' side first. We honestly do not care what the sex of the baby is as long as they are healthy.

Expect a lot more blogging to be lil' Gilburt centered. As this baby continues to change our lives, I expect no less with my blogging. 

In my next post, I will tell you how we revealed the pregnancy to my extended family.

Lenten Check-In #2

As we come to a close on this Lenten season, I am reflecting on my promises. This wasn't the most successful year, but I did grow closer to Christ and His message during this season. By offering up our sacrifices, no matter how small, we see a small fraction of what Christ did for us. Here are my promises and how they changed me into a better Catholic Christian:

1. Pray the Rosary every day
I was doing so well with this one and then Spring Break hit. I usually say this in my car on the way to school with my CD, but since I didn't drive as much this week I didn't say my Rosary as much. I want to keep up with this one after Lent. I really enjoy saying the Rosary at the beginning of the day as it prepares me for what the day has in store for me.


2. Read Not By Bread Alone: Daily Reflections for Lent 2013
I finally started reading this book. I have no excuses as to why I never started. It took a total of five minutes out of my day to read, reflect, and pray on it. Shame on me for not keeping up with this earlier.

3. Pray Before Meals
No comment. Why oh why is this one so hard for me???? I think I remembered a total of 10 times to pray before my meals. I'm not happy with this one and want to continue practicing it after Lent. I want this one to be a habit that just comes naturally, especially once we start having children. I am thankful for what God gives me, I just need to remember my timing.

 4. Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation
I am going next Wednesday for this beautiful sacrament. This is one that I do NOT want to pass up due to selfishness or pride. I hope everyone partakes in this sacrament and prepares their hearts for the coming of Christ.

 5. Attend Stations of the Cross
I've only missed one week of this. I was really bummed that I didn't get to make it last week as my family wanted to go out to dinner in Dallas and we wouldn't make it back in time for Stations of the Cross. I am going tonight and next week for the Veneration of the Cross.
Veneration of the Cross is my favorite Triduum event. Even though it is the most solemn, it is the most beautiful as the choir sings "Behold the Wood" and "Via Dolorosa". These two songs move me and truly put you in the scene of the crowd as Jesus walked to Calvary. As we venerate or kiss the Cross, I am humbled at what Christ did for us and I am overwhelmed by my selfish sins that caused this.

I hope we have all grown closer to our Lord during these 40 days and prepared our hearts for what He has done for us. This next week, Holy Week, although sorrowful and solemn, only helps us anticipate for the most celebrated day in our Christian year, the Resurrection of our Lord.

As someone posted on Facebook, "Earth's saddest day and gladdest day were just...three days apart."

Are you ready?