Baby Stories: Caleb's Birth

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Here I am again. Finally. Everyday I say to myself, "today is the day I'll get to a blog post." But then I get distracted by diapers, feedings, crying, tummy time, groceries, dinner, dog walks, dinner prep...you get the idea. 

So, today I'm going to share some more about little Caleb. I promise this blog isn't going to just become a Baby Caleb blog, but it will certainly include much, much more about him. Think about it...my life basic centers around the little man now 24/7 (watch this video, #worldstoughestjob). I totally understand now why mom's Facebook and Instagram accounts are all photos of their babies/kids (Exhibit A: my Instagram is all Caleb these days. #SorryNotSorry). You are constantly with them; its just the two of you, plus you are in love with the him/her, so what else do you do but take photos. Lots and lots of photos. I just counted the photos in my photo library and it's 1,010. That's just two months of his life. I think I'll need to get a new computer or external hard drive at this rate. 

Today I'm going to rewind and tell you a bit about the day Caleb was born. I'll keep it PG, don't worry, and do the abridged version. My full version is probably pages long since for me it was probably the craziest day of my life. 

It all started at dinner on New Year's Day - I was 37 weeks & 5 days pregnant. We were eating at The Ballard Annex when I started to feel some cramps. I remembered my mom mentioning contractions feeling like cramps. But I thought to myself this is way too early for labor, these must be false contractions (but secretly I started to freak out just a bit inside). I mentioned it to Josh and he (also secretly freaking out inside) asked if there was any pattern. I couldn't tell, so I tried to start to track it to see. 

When we got home, we packed our hospital bag and put in the car seat...just in case. These were things we were planning to do that weekend, but the "cramps" motivated us a bit more. The "cramps" didn't stop by 10pm, and I thought there may have been a chance that my water broke earlier that day, so I called the on-call doctor. She wasn't sure of my status from the call, so they had me go into the hospital.

They assessed my situation and determined that I was having slight contractions, but they could go away and I could not have the baby for a few days or if he did come it wouldn't be until at least a full day away. So they sent me home with a shot to help with contractions and let me sleep better.

I woke up around 3am shaking uncontrollably, so we headed back in. Again, they assessed and said I was only 1 cm dilated and it wouldn't be at least until the following evening. But, they let me sleep there for a bit to get some rest. 

Around 7am, we were out of the hospital again and headed home. I was still having contractions, but they were bareable so we made a stop at the coffee shop for a latte and treat. When we got home, I just chilled on the couch ready to deal with a long labor.

Then at 11am the glider chair delivery guys called saying they were on their way. I headed to the bedroom to get out of the way since they chair was going to be in the living room. As they were delivering it, my water broke. Then the pain hit me. Josh dealt with the chair and we were on our way to the hospital - for reals - this time. 

The drive to the hospital felt like an eternity but really only took 5 minutes (thank goodness the Ballard bridge wasn't up as that would have been disastrous). As we walked to the Labor & Delivery center, I paused on the skybridge bracing myself - omg, this is pain. I was in another world, and Josh had to convince me to keep moving. But we made it to the center and I was ready. Yup, I was ready to deliver the little man pretty much as soon as we arrived. 

We were rushed to a room and things started (skipping details to keep this PG). I asked for an epidural - please, oh please - but apparently it was too late to be any good. WHAT?! So, yea, no epidural my friends and an hour later - at 12:39pm on 1/2 to be exact - Caleb was in my arms. 

First Days at the hospital

Caleb was born a happy, healthy, little baby at 5 Ib, 5.9 oz. The next day was pretty routine, but when it came time to start the discharge process there was a hiccup. Caleb failed the car seat test - required for smaller, early babies. Apparently his heart rate dipped a few times while in the car seat. This turned into a four hour monitoring of him in the car seat, which resulted in more heart rate dips coupled with some dips in oxygen. 

We were transferred to the Special Care nursery to investigate the issue. Monitors were hooked up and we spent the next couple days running tests and Caleb on 24 hour monitoring. By Wednesday, things were looking much better, and it was determined it was just him being a wee bit premie. He passed the car seat test, and by Wednesday evening we were home sweet home. 

Days in the Special Care Nursery

We walked into the house after five days in the hospital and looked at each other and said, "now what!?" We have a baby! Ahhh!

First days at home

A Few Firsts for Caleb

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The blog is alive! Sorry I've been MIA, but I think I have a fairly good excuse...I just had a baby. It's a under statement when they tell you that having a baby is a lot of work. It's one thing to hear it and another to experience it. But, it's worth it! 

Now, I'm left wondering where did January went and how can it already be February? I'll chalk it up to the baby time warp. Yup, baby time warp. I have discovered that there is this time warp with babies. It seems you have all the time in the world, but really you have no time at all. You just get sucked in and suddenly time has zipped past. I've been told by friends with kids that the days are long, but the years are fast. I can totally understand now.

So it comes as no surprise that Caleb is already a month old - 6 weeks tomorrow, actually! It's been an exciting, wonderful, tiring, <insert every emotion you can think of> month. Let me share some of it with you...

Caleb's first day in this world, January 2nd.

Caleb's first bath (at the hospital).

Bringing Caleb home from the hospital.

Caleb meets his grandparents.

Our first family walk including Asha!

Here's a few firsts - starting top left and going across. (1) Our first outing from the house. We went to Vif for breakfast. (2) My first shopping trip with Caleb. (3) Caleb's first church service. (4) His first burrito at Gorditos, which has a special "baby burrito" that size of your newborn. (5) Caleb first meets Asha. (6) My first time wearing Caleb with the Ergo carrier.

Some of Caleb's first visitors (unfortunately I don't have pictures of some of our other visitors - boo). Plus, our first visit to co-workers. 

Caleb's first smile and first time noticing himself in a mirror. And a tummy time photo for fun.

The first month flew by! 

Welcome Baby Caleb

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I would love to introduce to you our son, Caleb. You might recall my due date being mid-January...well, he decided to join this world a bit early on Saturday, January 2nd, taking both Josh and I a bit by surprise. We were released from the hospital on Wednesday after a few days in the special care nursery due to some heart rate concerns. Fortunately, he proved to be healthy and we headed home to start our new life as a family.

Now, he is already a week old - can you believe it?! Josh and I are still settling down and figuring out the parenting thing, but Caleb has already captured our hearts. 

I'll share more details with you soon since writing a whole post right now is probably not going to happen given I keep starting a task and only halfway completing it and/or falling asleep. So for now I wanted to share some photos from the hospital. 

And a few more...

Isn't he the cutest? Expect many more photos of this little dude. ;)

Best of 2015, Looking to 2016

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Happy New Year!

First, happy 2016! I can't believe its here already. But before we head into the new year, let's do a quick look back on 2015.

If you're an Instagram junkie, then you most likely heard of the 2015 Best Nine. It's a site that picks your top photos from 2015. I did it and it gave me this collage, or just see it below. 

While I like the collage it created, I felt I could make a collage that better captured our year. Here's what I came up with instead.

This collage captures 2015 highlights - the pregnancy, the new rental home, our little pup, the trip to the South, my baking and blog, and family for the holidays. 

2015 was such a wonderful year. I can't believe all that happened, but 2016 is going to be even BIGGER! I can't wait for all the exciting adventures 2016 will bring.

My only 2016 resolution is have this little baby and figure out how to raise him! 

Happy New Years!!!!

Christmas Everything - A 2015 Recap

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Wow, the holidays flew by faster than Santa and his sleigh on Christmas Eve (do you like what I did there?). Our holidays were jam packed and full of merriment. I thought I'd share a holiday run down through photos. Let's do it...

My parents and sister flew up for Christmas and a few additional days. It was so wonderful to have the whole family here and to spend some quality time together.

Even though I had a million other things happening in my life, I just had to get a tree! I think this was our tallest tree yet.

Josh picked out the pig ornament. It makes me think about the dog trainer telling us to read the book, When Pigs Fly: Training for Impossible Dogs (ehh, that's encouraging...NOT). And so I dedicate that ornament to Asha's first Christmas with us. 

Of course, one of my favorite things is getting all the holiday cards and greetings from friends and family. This year I had a little ribbon to display them all.

There should be a Christmas song about Christmas cookies. Well, I bet there is one really, but let's start our own. "Oh Christmas cookie, how sweet thou art. You fill my tummy with happiness and glee." Uh, that needs some work. 

I kept the cookies simple this year - no macarons or pepakakor like years past. But these were delicious! Here's what I made this year:

Oh and for Christmas Eve dessert, I made a delicious Salted Caramel Apple Pie with a crumble topping. Oh man, so good!

I also organized a cookie exchange at work. I had organized it last year as well and it just so much fun to swap cookies and get new recipes. Lots of deliciousness. Let's sing that cookie song again.

And to round out the sweetness of the cookies, we enjoyed some delicious savory meals. Being preggo for Christmas, I opted to have us go out for dinner. Christmas Eve we celebrated at Bastille and Christmas Day at Rays Boathouse. I did manage a Spinach & Cheese Strata for Christmas morning brunch, though! 

Of course, we went to our church for the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. This is always a favorite of mine, probably because we get to sing so many Christmas songs. 

Presents! Gifts! Oh boy! Apparently we were all very good this year. ;)

And do you like my wrapping paper. I think it's the cutest!

Then we opened all the gifts. Look at those Christmas smiles!

As you know, I was pregnant this holiday season. This little guy will be the greatest gift - a bit late for Christmas, but I'm sure he'll ring in the new year.

This was also Asha's first Christmas with us. She was a good dog and didn't drink the water out of the tree. I do think she wondered why we brought the tree inside, though.

Well, that was one mighty fine holiday. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well. 

Merry Christmas 2015

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Merry Christmas!

I can't believe it's here. This is the fastest holiday season I have ever experienced. EVER. 

I hope this season finds you in good health, cheery spirits, and bright tidings. It has been a wonderful year for us - a new home, a dog, and a baby on the way! We would to share it with you. Check out our Christmas letter. 

Please keep in touch in 2016, my friends. I just know it'll be another great year. XO, Heather

Random Acts of the Month: November 2015

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So I'm waayyy behind in getting this post up. I'm not going to lie, life has been pretty busy juggling Christmas, work, and baby preparations. So let's keep it simple, shall we? 

Here's a quick snapshot of November:

Starting from the top-left, going across, and then down each row:

  • My good friend, Tricia, threw a beautiful Seattle baby shower. It was a lovely afternoon with friends, games, and good food. I feel so blessed by all the love!
  • We had our maternity photoshoot with Kristen Honeycutt. She's the same photographer that did our wedding and it's so great that she was able to capture this stage in our lives.
  • Oh baby boy is growing so much - we're reaching pineapple, butternut squash, and cantaloupe sizes now! 
  • The guys eating some delicious turkey on Thanksgiving!
  • The gals cooking up the Thanksgiving feast. 
  • We headed over to Whidbey Island the Friday after Thanksgiving to do some exploring with Don & Nada (my in-laws). 
  • Asha the curious pup!
  • I think I found my favorite pumpkin latte and it's from Cupcake Royale. Oh man, so good! 
  • The family exploring Langley on Whidbey Island. Oh what fun! 

And now we're in December. This year flew by...so fast...too fast...it's craziness. And so much coming ahead! 

8 Perfect Days: Babymoon - Charleston

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I am finally onto the next post of my 8 Perfect Days: Babymoon series. I gave you a prelude to the trip with my first post, but here I am to tell you about the first segment of our trip in more detail: Charleston! 

We wanted to fly into Charleston, but unfortunately with Alaska Airlines we had to fly into Atlanta to use our companion fare (of course, they started direct flights to Charleston in November, but for us that was too late - 'tis life). So, our trip actually started with a night in a cute neighborhood of Atlanta, Inman Park. We got in late and grabbed dinner at a cool place called Krog Market. The next morning, we headed on the road to Charleston. But Inman Park was a very cute neighborhood and a good start to our trip.

Charleston was very charming and we really enjoyed our time there. Before I dive into our time in Charleston, I wanted to let you know you can see a bunch of my Charleston photos. Go to the top navigation > photos > 2015 Babymoon. Or click here! 

Okay, now here's a bit about our time in Charleston: 

What we Did

  • Waterfront Park - On our first day, we arrived mid/late afternoon, so we headed out to the Waterfront Park before dinner. It has a lovely pier with swinging benches and views of the water. You can also see Fort Sumter, for you Civil War buffs. There is also a nice path along the water to stroll with palm trees and fountains. A great introduction to the city for us! 
  • Sole Charleston Walking Tour - This was a huge highlight of the visit or me. I got the idea to take this tour from a blogger I follow. She had a 10 Awesome Things to do in Charleston post and we were so glad we took it. We ended up having our own personal tour from Fin. Coming from a family that loves history, I really enjoyed how Fin walked us through the history of Charleston. You could really feel and share in his passionate for the city. He  took the time to show us as much of downtown as possible. By the end of it, we really had a good handle of the city, it's history, and it's people. To give you an idea of the amount we fit into 2-1/2 hours, here's a list of some of what we saw: the Pink House (the oldest home in Charleston), the "four corners of law" buildings, Dock Street Theater, Nathaniel Russell House, Rainbow Row, the Huguenot church, the Newer Anglican Church, the Irish Hibernian building, and more!
  • City Market - Apparently, this is one of the nation's oldest public markets and it's still used today it to sell stuff. There are a bunch of stalls lined down a covered, outdoor market space. The stalls are showcase all sorts of stuff from hand-woven baskets to food items to jewelry. For me, honestly, it was a wee bit disappointing as much of the stuff was somewhat junky (in my humble opinion). Thre were a few cute stalls, though, like the spice stall. That said, it's still worth a visit while you're there. And I may be a bit soured at the experience as the basket lady told me to delete my photo when snapped a photo of their basket booth (then put up a sign that says, "no photos" then lady - sheesh! It irked me for sure). 
  • King Street - This is one of the main streets through town with all sorts of shops - high end shops, boutiques, and local goods. I enjoyed browsing the South of Market shop, getting my baby kid at Sugar Snap Pea, tasting honey at Savannah Bee Company (yes, yes, we were in Charleston), and grabbing a popsicle to cool down from King of Pops.
  • Charleston Farmer's Market - This happens on Saturday mornings and we decided to stop here before heading onto our next stop. It was fun to see all the local artisans. We bought some lotions at the Charleston Soap Chef, munched on some pecans from Molly & Me, and savored some sips at Cannonborough. It was an enjoyable meander through local Charleston and another one I'd recommend if you're ever in Charleston on a Saturday morning.  

Photos: Top Row: Waterfront pier, Waterfront swing, Rainbow Row. Middle Row: Heather inside the Huguenot Church, Random gate, City Market basket weavers. Bottom Row: Oldest house, Slave Market, King of Pops on King Street.

Where we Ate

  • Black Tap Coffee - As you probably picked up from my blog, Josh and I are coffee snobs. Maybe it has something to do with living in Seattle. Yea, probably. But anyway, this place did not disappoint us coffee snobs . It was one of our favorite coffee stops of the trip, in fact. The lavender latte was lovely along with the coffee cake muffin. Yum! We even bought a mug as a souvenir. 
  • Husk - This place is way popular. Like way popular. As in I called at the beginning of September for dinner reservations in October, and they were booked. Crazy! So, I made lunch reservations instead and it was totally worth it. Here's what we enjoyed: Shrimp & Grits, hamburger, watermelon scrub, orange honey whey drink, and boiled jalapeños peanuts. Nom nom nom.
  • The Grocery - It's hard to say which our favorite restaurant of the trip was, but this was definitely a top runner. The atmosphere and flavors together made this a most memorable meal. Here's what we enjoyed: La Estrella pumpkin, romesco cauliflower, fried oysters, chicken with pears, and banana pudding ice cream. 
  • Fig - This was our first big meal of the trip, and everything on the menu looked delicious. We ended up sharing plates in order to try more things...great idea. A idea we carried out through many meals of our trip. Here we enjoyed: Pork bolgenese ricotta gnocchi, butternut squash with fromage & honey, Carolina gold rice & peas, wreck fish, and finished it off with calvados crepes. We were pleasantly surprised at the deliciousness of the Caroline gold rice & peas. And we still talk about how great it was to this day.
  • Hominy Grill - If we could, I would have gone here for dinner, but there were only so many nights in the trip so we opted for breakfast. All the people we talked to, raved about this place - a true sign of a good restaurant! We went very South in this meal with cornmeal pancakes with peach yogurt butter, fried green tomatoes with ranch dressing, and a country breakfast with biscuit and gravy. Can you guess who got what? Hint: Mine was corny. 

Photos: Top Row: Hominy Grill Fried Green Tomatoes, Heather at Fig, The Grocery. Middle Row: Biscuits & Gravy at Hominy Grill, Black Tap Coffee, Hominy Grill sign. Bottom Row: All at Husk - Shrimp & Grits, Boiled Jalapeño peanuts, hamburger.

Where we Stayed

We stayed at AirBnBs for (almost) our whole trip. In Charleston, we stayed at this very hip, well decorated cottage - the Historic Design Cottage. Check out the video below for a tour. We enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend it (and stay there again). The only down side was it's distance to the historic downtown area, but we had a rental so it worked out just fine for us. 

And here's a video tour by yours truly...

Charleston AirBnB

Much to be Thankful For!

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wow, we have so much to be thankful for this year. We feel so blessed! 

Baby Boy Brown (aka B3) - We can't believe the wonderment this little guy has already brought to our lives and he's not even born. We can't wait to meet him, but we are thankful for him already.

Josh - I am a superbly lucky gal to have such a kind, loving, and smart husband. I’m so happy that I get to spend my life with my best friend.

Family - Our families are so supportive and loving. We are so grateful to have such wonderful parents, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents (in our memories!). 

Friends - We are lucky to have great friends here in Seattle, but also all around the country and even the world! We don't know what we'd do without such friends. 

Asha - Our little pup has grown so much this year. In December, she will be one year old. She has brought so much joy to our lives. 

Seattle - We felt in love with our city the first time we visited. We are so grateful to live in an exciting, beautiful city with nature all around, good food, and decent weather (yes, even including that occasional rain we get here).

Ballard Church - We joined Ballard Church earlier this year and already feel integrated to a supportive, church family. We've meet some awesome people and are so grateful we found this community.

Jobs - As much as we whine about work, we are so grateful for good jobs. I’m especially thankful for my co-workers, who are more friends than co-workers. They keep me smiling at work and are pretty fantastic, creative people. 

Country - Not to sound hokey, but I’m thankful for our country - the founders, the opportunities, and the freedom we so often take for granted. Thanks to the brave pilgrims and explorers, too! 

Thanksgiving Feast - I’m sitting here typing with a full and satisfied tummy. We had a most delicious feast and everything turned out so delicious. I’ll share that in another post soon. 

This list could go on and on. Like my thankfulness for coffee, pumpkin, fall leaves, technology (yes, that’s you iPhone - you keep me from getting lost and connected with long distance friends), and so much more. 

What a wonderful life! I hope you all had a great thanksgiving.

Now, let Christmas begin! 

Random Acts of the Month: October 2015

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Here I am again with my jaw dropping at how another month has flown by. Seriously, it's crazy that it's already November. It really feels like it should only be September. Before I know it we'll be celebrating the new year (and a baby about to arrive). 

Writing this October look back made me realize how utterly behind I am on my blog. I still need to continue telling you about our babymoon and about my San Diego baby shower. Plus there are other random things still to share like fall sweets I've baked or quick dinner ideas. If only I had more time! Well, for now, let's keep it simple and share some photos from October.

Here's a few smiles from the babymoon. One photo from each city: Charleston, Savannah, and St. Augustine. Those popsicles were delicious, by the way. I had a pumpkin popsicle since I'm pumpkin obsessed.

My co-workers totally surprised me with a baby shower. Look at my surprise face - yes, I actually put my hands up to my face in utter surprise. They brought in all the stops with cute decorations and blue mini cupcakes (from Trophy Cupcake - da bomb). Boy do I have some very thoughtful, generous, and kind co-workers (friends, really). 

I told you I was pumpkin obsessed. Do you see that delicious pumpkin crumpet? It was heavenly. They are serving it at a new place in Queen Anne called Queen Bee Cafe. Then I got together with my friend, Sarah, and we made these awesomely delicious Melt In Your Mouth Pumpkin Cookies. They were pretty easy to make and seriously do melt in your mouth. 

Oh, and I do eat none pumpkin things (sometimes). Like that bowl of chicken pho. We found our new favorite Vietnamese place called Bahn Town. It was just what we needed on a cool, fall day with our sniffly colds. Yup, both of us had colds - boo. 

And I can't let a month go by without some Asha pup photos. She's growing up so fast. 10 months now! Our friends got her that little doggie bed when they were gracious enough to dog sit while we were on our babymoon. She L-O-V-E-S this bed. It's her little snuggle zone. We have to tote it around the house so she can sleep on it when we're in different parts of the house.

So there we have it, October. It probably went by so fast since we had a great month - time really does fly when you're having fun. Looking back like this makes me realize how wonderful life is. 

Go enjoy November, my friends. I'll report back soon.

Preggo Update: Second Trimester

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Whoa...pull the reins. Slow. it. down. The second trimester is over. For realsies? I can't believe it. This is starting to get way real now.

So yea, the transition to the third trimester has caused me to freak out a wee bit. I have this urge to do everything NOW. Luckily, Josh is a calming force in my life - and probably why we do well together. Getting a to-do list together has helped, but I keep adding stuff. 

But, the second trimester was the best so far (ha, first trimesters, you stink). I felt great for starters. It also was a period where I really started to grow and show. I now definitely look pregnant. I'm at the point, though, where the growing can stop. This is good. I'm fine right here; no need to get bigger. But I don't think my body or B3 (B3 = Baby Boy Brown) will listen.

Here's a few highlights of the second trimester:

  • Week 20 Ultrasound: It's crazy what you can see - hands, feet, face - it's amazing. We were astounded by it all. Simply amazing. The little foot photo is in my collage below.
  • Babymoon: This was such a wonderful, and much needed trip. Before B3 decided to show up, we were planning on Croatia. But, international travel didn't seem like the best idea so we stuck with US travel. We went for good ole South hospitality and traveled to Charleston, Savannah, and St. Augustine. I plan on write some more posts, but this was the first one for a sneak peek. 
  • Baby Shower: I felt so blessed with all the family and friends that showed up to celebrate B3. Some folks even flew to come - that's incredible. We had a lovely high tea themed shower and it was so amazing. Not to mention, we got a lot of gifts to help us start our family journey.
  • Signs of Life: Wow. Just wow. At week 21 I started to feel the little peanut with some kicks and punches. Now, he's moving quite a bit. I smile to myself every time I feel him; it's so reassuring and amazing. It's also a bit freaky and alien-ish, but it's great. 

Those highlights made me feel better. Okay, I'm ready to tackle the third trimester. You've got this Heather (heehee). 

8 Perfect Days: Babymoon

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Hi y'all, Did you ever read the “Three Perfect Days” articles in the United Airlines magazine? I always enjoyed those articles, but I don’t think they do that series any longer which is really too bad. 

Since the articles are no longer around (I think not anyway, I don’t really fly United anymore), I wanted to give you my own take on the series with 8 Perfect days in 3 cities. Over 8 days we visited Charleston, Savannah, and Saint Augustine. 

This trip was basically our babymoon…yes, it’s a thing. But we also had our anniversary the week prior and celebrated Josh’s birthday on the trip. In other words, much to celebrate plus one last hurrah before the ‘lil one arrives. It was a much needed trip for us; we’ve both been working hard and we hadn’t had a vacation in a while. Also, it had been a few years since we did a Josh & Heather only trip. 

We had a wonderful time and many great memories. I have so much to share especially in the way of photos, so I’m going to break this down into three posts - one for each city. I’ll be sure to share what we did, what we ate, and where we stayed. Get ready for it!! 

To get you excited, I’m going to share some thoughts on the trip as a whole. 

As I mentioned, we visited 3 cities and each was quite unique. We thought the progression South was the perfect tour. Here’s how our trip flowed: 

  • Charleston, SC - We felt this was the largest of the cities, the most cosmopolitain. It hummed with city life - business people, a street with high end stores - but yet easy to navigate and history woven into the town. 
  • Savannah, GA - While it you could see similarities to Charleston, it was definitely it’s own town. It was smaller and we felt more approachable. This was probably our favorite place, but only by a sliver. We felt it was the best integration of history and city living together. 
  • St. Augustine, FL - This was the smallest of the cities, and was less of a living city with history and more history preserved in time. It was distant from Charleston and Savannah in that it felt more tropical and likely due to the Spanish rather than British origins. 

As with all trips, there were things we liked or surprised us and then a few “eh” things about it. The highlights include:

  • Friendly people - I think it’s true, Southerners are very friendly people. If you were just walking down the street, people would say hello. Or launch into conversations if they sat at the table next to you. 
  • Crickets - So there might have been other bugs, but at night with the warmth of the day softened, the cropping of the crickets was so pleasant. 
  • Architecture - We loved all the houses, porches, gates, and buildings; just too cool. 
  • Food - We ate a lot of good food on the trip, but more on that later.
  • Trees - I was surprised (although it made sense when I thought through it) that there were palm trees. The mix of palm and oak trees fascinating. 
  • Spanish Moss - The Spanish Moss lent a very atmospheric tone to the areas. It’s just what I imagined. 
  • History - It was so interesting to learn the history of each city, and these cities were full of it! 

And, then there were some things that were just “eh, not so much”:

  • Mosquitos - Gawh! Bug bites are the worst. Itchy itchy is no good. Josh got one on the bottom of his foot (crazy guy). 
  • Humidity - I just wilt in humidity. It wasn’t too bad since it’s fall, but there was one day that just felt so thick.
  • Charleston Basket Weavers: I took a photo and the lady told me to delete my photo. Grrr. That just irked me. 
  • The End - I hate that the trip had to come to an end so soon. Reality bites. 

Now, let’s talk about food. I’ll share where we ate and all that jazz in my city-specific posts, but we did get a taste of the good ole South. Here’s some Southern food we enjoyed: fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese, Carolina rice, shrimp & grits, po’ boys, biscuits & gravy, sweet tea, and peach cider, boiled peanuts, key lime pie, and local fish. 

Sigh, I wish I was back there now, sitting on the patio on a warm, fall evening with crickets and some banana pudding. I look forward to reliving the trip through the upcoming posts with you.

Random Acts of the Month: September 2015

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I was hoping to get this post published before vacation, but as you can see that didn't happen. I did get a start on it before the trip, but I'm sitting here in Orlando airport finishing it up. Yup, you heard me right, Orlando. That's for a later post, though. Right now, we're looking back real quick at September. 

You might remember that September started with Labor Day. Our good friends, the Maben family, invited us up to some property near Lake Stevens to hang out. It's a little oasis away from the city with lush grass and a river. We brought Asha along for the fun. We had a good time relaxing and hanging out with friends.

September brought the fall season. I love, love, LOVE the fall. I love the colors, the favors, the scents...ahhh sigh. I think I point out every tree when we drive around to Josh that has changing leaves. He's good and smiles and says it's pretty, too. 

I took another calligraphy class in September with my friend, Shweta. I learned how to connect the letters to form words and sentences. I need to keep practicing! 

Oh boy! I got a new laptop! So fast. So light. So sleek. This is all part of project nursery. We need to have one room serve as baby area and office, so we needed to reduce our desk space to fit in one desk, hence the laptop. 

It was Sweet Week in Seattle and I tried two sweets. On the left you'll see tea infused macarons from Fresh Flours. Then on the right, you'll see the apple ginger crisp from Hot Cakes. YUM!

Here's more food. For fun one night we tried out Big Chickie for dinner in Hillman city (near Columbia City...all south of Seattle). Then the Mighty-O donuts opened a store in Ballard. So far my favorites have been the french toast donuts and the apple spice donut. 

I did some baking at home. I had some ripe bananas, but I couldn't resist pumpkin season so I made pumpkin banana bread. For my co-workers I made those funfetti cake balls.

For the last weekend of September, Josh and I headed down to San Diego. I had a wonderful baby shower to celebrate Baby Boy Brown. I felt so blessed! I got to see so many good friends and family members, not to mention I got a lot of awesome things for the coming 'lil one. 

Before we left, we stopped for some good SD Mexican food at El Indio. A SD classic / institution. 

Asha pup turned 9 months old...holy cow! Isn't she the cutest? She got her first professional bath and she got a "A" from the groomer. I hardly believe that because for me she basically flunked - a big fat "F." They must have some tricks up there sleeves there (or just like our business, heehee).

And we reached a whomping four big years of marriage on September 29th. We've been together since 2003, so really 12 years. And you know what, I love Josh more than ever (sorry, too much lovey dovey there). We enjoyed a dinner with our families when we were visiting to celebrate as well as our own romantic dinner the actual day of the anniversary. 

There we have it. September was great! I can already tell you that October has been even better!

Blogger Love

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I recently shared with you my weekly meal planning strategy. I was pleasantly surprised by the reception I got from it. In fact, a co-worker told me it was a "game changer" for her life. Wowza! I had no idea and it fills me with joy that I may have been helpful in some way.

But don't go thinking I'm so some of miracle person that is just "so together" - heck no! I have my struggles, too. Like sometimes I just don't want the meal I had planned, or I had to work later than I thought and the meal I had scheduled is just not going to feed me fast enough. In fact, being pregnant I come home way more hungry than before so it's a real struggle bus. 

Luckily, I have my blogger friends to help me. Did you know there is a whole community of bloggers out there? It's a thing. For real. They even get together for conferences and they all seem to be friends or connected somehow. These gals (and some guys, too) are so talented, and have some great ideas to share. This is one of my biggest sources of new recipes and help me through the week. In fact, Pioneer Woman is starting to share these bloggers on her site with her Food & Friends section. Bloggers, bloggers everywhere!

I share a few in my meal planning post, but I thought I'd dive into it some more.

Mel's Kitchen Cafe

These bloggers are real people and also talk about their week meal planning struggles. Mel talked about it recently on her "Let’s Talk: When There’s No Time {or Desire} To Make Dinner" post. She really struck home with me on what she had to say. Not to mention, she gives some great tips on quick meals when you're in a bind. I noticed one thing we do in common is panini's (grilled cheese supremes, as I like to call them) for a quick meal. She has a whole list of "Quick Recipe Solutions" that I plan on referencing. Also, she also has these menu plans and a side dish planner because isn't it the sides sometimes that just get you? 

I think she has some great homestyle meals. No crazy ingredients and using tools you already have at home. The food is filling, delicious, and full of heart. There is a good mix of main dish, side dish, and sweets on her recipe collection. The Best Recipe collection is handy, too!

Here's a few recipes that have either caught my eye or have tried (and know to be true):

Foodie Crush

Heidi from Foodie Crush always seems to help me find some good recipes. She shares the blog love her Blog Crush series - here's her most recent 5 Food Blogs I'm Following Now. Check out those Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars on that post - that looks like something Josh would love. I like her style and everything I've tried from her site has worked out! She has her recipes categorized by season (like fall) which is pretty handy. In fact, all her categories are nicely organized. 

Here's some recipes that I've tried or want to try!

How Sweet It Is

I was so bummed when Jessica was in Seattle earlier this year, but I did get her cookbook. She makes the best stuff both savory and sweet. She is one of my favorite blogs, and I drool at most of the recipes in her cookbook. Seriously, you need to check her blog out.

Blog Management Tip

Now that I've told about a few of my favorite blogs, you're wondering how I manage them. I highly recommend a blog reader. You subscribe to whatever blogs you're interested, and then when that blogger posts something new it pops up. Then it disappears after you read it (you can mark as a favorite, though). If it's something good, then I usually "pin it" to my Pinterest board. And that's that. 

Right now I use Feedbin as the service, but then use ReadKit as the tool for reviewing/reading the blog posts. I love that you can look at the blog posts either on your phone (like when I'm on the bus to/from work), or at home on my computer. Although, Josh is trying to get me to move over to Reeder instead. He'll probably convince me to move over to it soon. 

At the start of my blog reading, I used Google Reader until it went bye-bye. I wrote a little post about it and some alternatives. You might try some of those instead, if you're interested. Whatever you choose, I hope you choose to follow some blogs. It's fun!

And I'll share some more of my favorite blogs again soon. I'm not stopping here! 

Celebrating 4 Years

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Yesterday was our four year anniversary. Wowza, how has it been four years already? Luckily, they have been four crazy awesome good years! (3 years, 2 years, 1 year)

And really it's 12 years of being together. Dang, we're getting old. This year has been pretty fantastic, hence our smiling faces...

This year has been especially momentous - we moved to a new place, got a puppy, and now we're expecting! To celebrate, we went out to a romantic dinner at Eden Hill in Queen Anne. It was delicious! My favorites were the sugar pumpkin gnocchi and ricotta donut for dessert. Food is always a good way to celebrate. 

And because I can't help myself, I looked at our wedding photos again last night. Here's one that seems to capture the love. 

Cheers! And here's to another year! 

Random Acts of the Month: August 2015

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Yes, yes I know we're already halfway through September and I'm talking about August. Can we blame pregnancy brain? I'd like to do that. (Although, it's not that I forgot, it's just that I haven't had the time). Anyway, here's a look back at August...fashionably late. 

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Here's our little Asha pup. Well, not so little anymore, but frankly not as big as we thought she'd be at this point either. Fingers crossed she stays this size (that would be about 45 Ibs...she just looked at me and shook her head for sharing her weight). 

Her other names are as follows, but not limited to: Pupadoo, Asha P. Pup, sweetie pie, our little terrorist. She goes from sweetie pie to terrorist pretty quickly. The photo on the far left is our walk home...sans walking. 

Here's some drinks we had in August. I had a lovely mocktail - seriously, it was delicious. While Josh enjoyed a margarita. And our favorite rooibos tea lattes from Cederberg (remember this post?) with a crunchie bar and fudge.

We went to our annual Mariner's game with our church. And they won! Woohoo. Before the game, we got lunch at Rain Shadow Meats in Pioneer Square. So meaty. 

I'm growing....and I'm bigger now than I am in this photo. AHH! I got some great clothes from Stitch Fix, though. I was very happy with my box and would definitely recommend it for maternity wear. Here's a rant: maternity clothes. ARGH!! Expensive and not easy to find (as in not many stores carry their maternity clothes in their actual stores; you have to go online). I could go on, but it'll likely bore you. It bugs me and makes the sassy preggo Heather speak out. 

My company participated in Wayzgoose again. We did it last year and the year before. The theme was man vs. machine. I thought our B-Bot Battle poster was pretty cool, but sadly no winning this year. It was a fun time, though.

I'll keep it short, but we had a great August. 

And now September, probably one of my favorite months. Did I smell pumpkin??? 

Daily Dinners: Weekly Meal Planning

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I'm not going to share a specific recipe today, but instead how I plan my meals for the week. I often get asked while munching away with co-workers at lunch how I manage to make the all my meals during the week. My co-workers think they are gourmet or something - ha! It's just regular, home cooked meals here, friends. So I'm going to share my meal planning secrets with you. 

Okay, that's a lie; it's not a secret, but I had to hype this up a bit to get you excited. It's definitely not rocket science (and if I was a rocket scientist, I'd probably be rich and have a home chef or something). But it did take me a while to get where I am with the meal planning. It all started on paper - literally scraps of paper where I wrote the meals and shopping list. My dear husband played a bit part in helping me get a system down. This system still takes some time, but it's a whole lot less than it used to be at the start. And I'm still refining it...especially in anticipation of the little guy on the way. 

Here's how it goes...

Gather Recipes

Finding the perfect recipe never stops for me. I'm always on the quest for the perfect meal - one that's quick, tasty and healthy. It's like a game - a game I both love and hate. I like to torture myself that way. Anyway, where do I get my recipes? Mostly from the blogs and Pinterest.

Blogs: I have been hoping to write a post about my favorite bloggers, and I still plan to, so below is just a sampling. These are a few favorites for meal type recipes (some are better for treats & sweets - that's for another time). Oh, and I use a blog reader to follow my favorite bloggers.

  • Pioneer Woman - Ree, otherwise known as the Pioneer Woman, is great and I've been following her for years. She's built quite the empire for herself and recently started a program on the Food Network. I've been to her book signing and met her when she signed my book. Her chicken parmigiana is a favorite of mine. 
  • Annie's Eats - Annie always seems to have great solutions for healthy and quick meals. She seems so nice, like she could be your friend. Her Mexican quinoa is one of my go-to's for a quick meal. Just add some avocado and sour cream and chips on the side and you're good to go. And, if you want some meat, I often add the carnitas from Trader Joe's. 
  • Gimme Some Oven - Ali has some awesome meals - yes I know them all on a first name basis (although, sadly, they don't know my name). I love how she lightens up a lot of traditional meals and does recipe round ups by ingredient. Her Hummus Crusted Chicken is super tasty - just serve it with Trader Joe's rice! (Psst, I told you about this before...)
  • Mel's Kitchen Cafe - I tell ya, Mel makes some good, home cooked meals. She often make suggestions on what to serve with the meal, which is helpful. I enjoy the Thai Style Chicken and Quinoa during the spring and summer. 
  • Pinch of Yum - Lindsay is a recipe machine. I follow her on Pinterest and she's got so many recipes pinned. One I made in the spring and will make again soon now that it's cool enough for the oven, is the Six Ingredient Sausage Potato Pie. 

Pinterest: I use Pinterest to quick save a recipe that looks promising to me. So, when I am looking through my blogs and come across a recipe, I pin it to one of my boards. I also use Pinterest to source recipes. I follow a few of the bloggers I follow as they pin other people's recipes, too. 

Plan the Week

Every Sunday I sit down and plan the menu for the week. Here's the steps I take:

1. Weather Check: Yes, I check the weather. Seriously. I want to know whether I want to turn on the oven or not (this is key for the summer). 

2. Scan my Recipes: This is where Pinterest plays in again. I go to my boards and check out if anything catches my eye. If you have a cookbook you like, look at the table of contents. Or, do a quick web search if you have something particular in mind. Got some ideas now? Good, let's move on...

Before I go to 3, I want to tell you about Paprika as it's pivotal to the next steps. This is is a great piece of software and has served me well. I was doubtful of switching off my paper method (with recipes all printed and in a binder), but Josh convinced me and I haven't looked back. When I have a meal planned for the week, I just imported it into the tool. Slowly the recipe library builds up. I can use this for #2 now as well. It's on my desktop, phone, and iPad so it's really convenient. 

3. Meal Decisions: There is a calendar tool in Paprika, so go through and decide on a meal for Sunday through Thursday (I take off Friday & Saturday). If it's a new recipe, you may need to import it. Or, if you already have it in your library, great! You open the recipe on Paprika and there is an opinion to "Add to Meals" - go ahead and add it. 

Tip: I try to have some variety to my weekly meals. I tend to have one pasta dish, a chicken dish, ground turkey/beef, and pork. 

4. Grocery List: At the same time you add the meal to the calendar, you should click "Add to Grocery List." Then you click all the boxes for the items you need. Don't forget to go through the pantry and refrigerator to see what you have, what needs refreshing, etc. You can also just manually add items to the grocery list. I have some things I get every week - yogurt, bananas, milk, ice cream - so I add those, too. All set, good! The tool is great and will categories them into aisles at the store. 

5. Go to the Store: Sunday afternoons I head to the grocery store. I tend to go to Trader Joe's and/or Safeway these days - sometimes I go to both. It takes me about an hour total. I take out my iPhone and open Paprika, and go through my grocery list. As I put an item into my card, I check it off and the item disappears. 

6. Put the Food Away: This is self explanatory. I hope so. Josh usually helps me bring in the grocery bags, isn't he sweet?

Cook each Day

When you get home each day, open Paprika and get cooking. I use Josh's iPad and a little stand in the kitchen. The recipe is there and ready to help me make a most wonderful meal. I usually make 4 servings (or more!). We eat two for dinner, and then put two in tupperware to take to work the next day. Then your co-workers will look at your lunch and ask, "how do you do it?" 

And if that's not enough to get you going, there here is more Daily Dinner inspiration:

Stitch Fix Box 4 - The Maternity Edition

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More Stitch Fix love! This time my fix was geared towards maternity. Yes, they do maternity wear as well. It's a somewhat recent addition to their offerings. I haven't bought much maternity wear, so this was my first foray into that arena. And the verdict: success! I liked every piece and ended up keeping the whole box since you get a better deal with the box discount. Here I am in the new stitches:

If you've ever received a Stitch Fix before, you'll be sure to point out that you get five pieces in a box but there are only four pictures above. I didn't take a photo of the leggings, but you can see them (sort of) in the bottom left photo. They are cute with a little side zipper at the ankle. I just figured a photo of my legs might be odd. 

Of course each box comes with a little note and tips on how to style the pieces. Here's what I got:

It's hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to I'm thinking the maxi dress. For one it's technically not a maternity piece so I can go on wearing it after the baby. But I love the lace details on both the Keils Lace (gray) top and the Aldrich Crocket knit (blue) top. Lace love!! The leggings are just a nice staple that will carry me through the remaining months, and the Yarm top is just fun with the pops of color. 

If you've seen me recently, then you may have already seen me in these clothes - a true sign of success. I wish I could do the boxes more often, but it's always a fun when I can. Here's my other boxes (normal, non-maternity wear): box 1 and box 2 & 3. 

If you give it a go, use my referral link and I'll love you forever.

Go on, click it >> https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3533685

Random Acts of the Month: July 2015

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July was pretty awesome. There was some big news, some summer weather, some good food, and some other stuff. 

For the 4th of July we took the pooch out to Magnuson Park where the dog park has some water. Asha was uncertain at first, but ended up chasing another dog and found herself in the water. Once she was wet, she was loving it! 

We enjoyed some tasty food. On the left, we enjoyed some fish & chips at Chippy's. Then we battled the crowds to get some Chick-Fil-A - yes, I mean crowds and the drive through is out of the lot! And I had a prego hankering for dumplings so we headed to Din Tai Fung. Ah so good. 

We grew stuff! We were pretty proud of our produce. I'm calling us Farmer Browns. 

Of course lots of time was spent with little Miss Asha. Oh, and she graduated from puppy kindergarden. We're proud puppy parents.

We had some pretty big news. Take a guess - here's two hints: (1) bun in the oven and (2) Bump!

Find out how I'm doing with my Q&A post, too! 

There was some random fun, too. I took a calligraphy class, we went down to Georgetown (South Seattle) for lunch, and we saw lots of people picking the wild blackberries. Would you pick and eat blackberries from the side of the road?

As always, I spent time in the kitchen (only on the days that were not crazy high temps - which weren't many).

Those pancakes are my favorite - Oatmeal Buttermilk - they remind me of the pancake I enjoyed at Alana's Cafe in the Bay Area. Here's the recipe!

Oh July, you were good. Can't believe we're already in August! This year is flying by!!!!

Since the Bump: Q&A with Heather

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So the big news has finally been shared, and what a relief it is to not have to keep it a secret. It's the biggest secret I think I've had to keep to date. When we found out, I just wanted to shout to the world the news. So I'm glad the silence is over and the secret is shared. Now, I get to tell you all sorts of things. I hope you're ready as I'm all about baby right now, so I'm sure I'll be writing more about that in upcoming days. You ready? Let's start!

Since the bump news, I have received a lot of questions. I thought I would give you a fun Q&A session to satisfy all your curious minds. 

How far along are you?

I'm in my second trimester now - yay - and at 15 weeks. The baby is currently the size of an apple or orange. Here's my progress in fruits (yes, this is a thing):

Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?

As a matter of face, I do know. It's a boy! I might have you scratching your head as to how I know the gender so early as people typically only know after the week 20 ultrasound. Well, we did the genetics testing and with it came the gender results. It blows my mind that they can figure out the baby's gender just from a blood sample. Science and technology, who knew?! 

When are you due?

Right now they are saying January 15, 2016. Originally it was January 17th, so I imagine it'll happen sometime in mid-January (or, I hope so!). 

Are you showing (obviously, not an in-person question)?

This is a tough one to answer. For me, I feel like it's incredibly obvious I'm pregnant and have a bump. My friends can all tell that I am showing, but I don't think a stranger is going to really notice. Plus, I've been attempting to wear looser clothing so it makes it harder to tell. To me I started to show around week 12 or 13 with a lil' bump. Now, at week 15, I definitely have a bump, but nothing too big - like I said, it's there, but not glaringly obviously. I feel like it's a bit of an awkward stage right now, but I'm sure when I'm bigger I'll wish I was the size I am now. 

How are you feeling?

Right now, I feel pretty good. In fact, I can hardly tell I'm pregnant. Ask me in an hour. Seriously, though, I was super lucky in my first trimester.

In fact, I feel a bit guilty telling other expectant mothers or moms that I didn't get sick (as in throwing up) once in my first trimester (or yet, for that matter). I have heard some horror stories, so I'm incredibly relieved. I have a irrational fear of throwing up. But it wasn't all daisies either. I was pretty tired most of the time. I started to go to bed earlier than my usual, which for me is saying something. Although, again, I heard stories of folks that had to go to sleep at like 7pm. I was more like 10pm instead of  my typical 11 or 11:30pm. Also, I just had this constant low grade nausea thing going - I could deal with it, but it made eating less fun. I would get hungry and then nothing sounded good and eating just sound bleh. It was a struggle. 

But now I'm in the second trimester and things are feeling better. I still get a tired earlier, but I have more energy - yippee! I don't have the constant nausea thing, and I get hungry and want to eat things. I'm not going to get into details on some other new things - dealing with indigestion, we'll leave it at that - but overall, life is pretty good. 

Now, if the heat in Seattle could just settle down!

Do you have any food cravings?

Seriously, this is everyone's favorite questions. I think the movies just make us thing all pregnant women want pickles and crazy foods at midnight. I really don't have any real cravings, necessarily. There are things that definitely sound good. For instance, I can't get enough bread and comfort foods - pizza, pasta, POTATOES, chicken pot pie - these all sound terrific to me. Now, I'm not craving them in a way where I demand Josh go drive forever to find them at midnight, but they do sound quite tasty. But now that you mention it, Yumi Yogurt sounds good. Should I make Josh fly to the Bay Area to get me some and blame the pregnancy? Mwahaha, evil laugh. 

Anyway, luckily, a lot of the pregnancy "super foods" I already enjoy naturally - oats, yogurt, sweet potatoes. And guess what, I don't like pickles and I never will. 

The less commonly know thing to people are food aversions. Sometimes I will picture a particular food in my mind and just cringe. Like a while ago salad just didn't sound good. I would grunt to myself, but if served it, I'd eat it because it's the healthy thing to do, right? Sigh, healthy. But, especially in the first trimester, I just didn't want some foods. 

Are you feeling any movement? 

Not yet! I was at an appointment today and the doctor said I could start feeling him soon. When she listened to the heart, she said he was moving around. We also saw him  moving around in my week 12 ultrasound. The earliest I should start to feel him is at week 16, but the doctor said that less likely for first time moms and more likely closer to week 20. Can't wait!! 

How did you share the news?

We started the news at different times for different people. Of course our parents and my sister were the first to know. They had to suffer like us in keeping it secret. The timing could not have been better since the Brown parents were visiting shortly after we found out the news ourselves. They were visiting here the weekend after Mother's Day (yup, back in May), so we decided to share with them via Nada's mother's day gift. We got her a "Mama Bear" necklace and on the tag wrote in "grand" - it took a moment before realization dawned and then it was all happy tears and hugs of joy. 

Unfortunately, my parents didn't have a trip and we needed to tell them long distance. We bought a baby book, and inside we wrote a message saying they could read this to their grandchild. Then we included a baby card sharing the news. I told them I had a package in the mail for them, and call me before opening it. They opened the gift with Josh and I on the phone. Again, it took a moment and then bam! realization hit. It was the best phone call ever. 

That evening, my sister actually drove down to stay the weekend with my parents. My mom told her to call me when she arrived because I had an important question. When she called, I asked, "Would you rather be called Aunt Lindsay or just Lindsay?" She got that right away! 

The next round of sharing was later at around week 13 (after good results on our ultrasound and at the start of the second trimester). First, I told my boss. I think I almost gave him a heart attack since he thought when I had "some news" it might be my two weeks notice. But then he was super happy. Just after that, I pulled my immediate team into a room for a "quick sync" and shared the news. Again, I think I momentarily had them worried, but then thrilled once I got all the words out of my mouth.

Then came sharing the news with the broader team at work. On Monday, I brought in some sugar cookies with blue frosting and blue sprinkles. I took them to our scrum (a meeting we have at the beginning of each day to discuss what'd due that day). After I made my updates, I took the cookies out and said, "I brought in some cookies, and they have blue frosting because....(long pause)...to celebrate the baby boy I'm expecting in January!" Then it just blew up from there with congratulations and questions. 

Finally, I got to share on my blog and FaceBook. You can just go to the post to see it for yourself. 


Do you know the name?

We are pretty sure we've decided on the name. We are still debating a middle name. And no, we are not sharing it. You'll just have to wait until Baby Boy Brown (BBB) is born.

I'm sure I missed a question, so feel free to ask in the comments. I'l write some more updates...don't worry.