35 week check up... 36 weeks (tomorrow)

This is a picture Kelly snagged at her little girl's birthday party 2 weeks ago, but it's a good belly shot! lol.  Ava Grace is definately growing!

How Far Along:

36 week tomorrow.  According to my doctor, after tomorrow if I go into labor, I will no longer be considered "pre-term," so any time from here on out is a go!  :-)

Size of Baby:

My belly is measuring right on target.  Dr. Hamrang said "she isn't measuring large or anything" - so that's good!  She estimated her to be almost or just over 5 lbs at this point.

Total Weight Gain:

19 lbs (still on target for staying under 25 lbs total weight gain!)

Maternity Clothes:

So thankful for stretchy maternity clothes!  I live in maternity jeans and long sleeved fitted tees.

Gender:

GIRL!  And our house looks like a pink bomb exploded in it!  All of Ava Grace's stuff is against the kitchen wall in anticipation of our move!  We are starting to feel like hoarders! lol

Movement:

She is one busy girl and she keeps my belly hoppin' (literally!).  She like to have a 4 AM party every night!  She is most active in the evenings between 7-9.  Her new trick is stretching her legs and tucking her feet under my ribs.  Her daddy likes to wake her up by poking and shaking my belly and she usually pokes right back in protest.  No more rolling around - not enough room!  Dr. Hamrang checked me for the first time yesterday and said, although no progression has begun, her head is right there and she is in position!  She moves her hands a lot too, and that hurts because it's so low, but she's worth it!  :-)

Sleep:

Hard to come by! lol.  I wake up several times a night to turn over or make one of many trips to the restroom because she likes to use my bladder as a pillow.  I also have crazy dreams!

Symptoms:

Not much!  Heart burn, but now that she is fully head down, it's gotten a little better.  I still crave sweets and milk, lol.  I have to eat more often, but can't eat much at one time.  There's no room in there!

What I Miss:

I am looking forward to a nice glass of wine on the couch in the evening!

Cravings:

Milk and Sweets!

Best Moment This Week:

Going to the doctor and finding out that she is in position!  :-)  AND getting everything signed for the new house so we can move in before Christams (fingers crossed) and set up our nursery - and the rest of the house for that matter!  :-)

What I'm Looking Forward To:

Seeing what our sweet girl looks like and holding her in my arms!  We are so excited!

Catching up...

OH MY, how busy we have been!  I can't begin to catch everyone up on everything, but I can tell you that we have....

1. Been to court for some Lily stuff (success!)

2.  Shopped for a house (success!)

3.  Found the PERFECT house (2200 sq feet, full basement already plumbed and wired to be finished, 5 beautiful acres - basically our dream home, at a dream price, in a dream location - God is AMAZING and seeking His will and waiting for His timing ALWAYS pays off!)

4.  Reached "full term" (as of this Friday anyway) at 36 weeks - growing and ready for baby as soon as we move.

5.  Been preparing for said move - hoping they can have us in before Christmas!!

...and all that is on top of "normal" life of work and coaching for Chris and house work and mommy stuff and Pampered Chef for me!  Whew!  To say we have been busy would be the understatement of the year!  This is why I haven't posted a menu plan (and won't for a couple weeks - too much time on the go and too many things being packed up! lol), and why I haven't posted, well, much of anything!  But today I wanted to post some pictures and catch you up on a few of the many things we have had going on!

Last night was Lily's Christmas program at school!  It was so cute!  I have posted a few pictures - check out Lily's facial expressions!  She was trying SO HARD not to smile every time she looked over at us!  It was a PACKED house with standing room only!  As soon as she found us the crowd she kept sneaking peeks over and she'd try so hard not to smile at us - it was SO funny and SO cute!

 She was dressed as a penguin for the program...

 ...and sang so many cute Christmas songs!

 I don't know why she didn't want to smile at us, but we were cracking up the whole time!

 Here's Daddy and our little Penguin!

In our opinion she stole the show!  :-)

 It was a very fun night!! 

In other news, ever since Pinterest entered my life, I have been dying to do more crafty and DIY stuff!  I have always liked the thought of sewing and making my own stuff like Mom did for us when we were little and I have wanted to make hair bows for a while, but didn't have time.  The other day I took some time for myself and sat down to give it a try.  Remember these are my very first attempts, I am sure they will get better with practice, but...

 Here's my first ever hand made hair bow and...

 ...felt flower hair clips!

I thought they turned out pretty good for my first try and I can't wait to make more and experiment with different types of bows and clips!  :-)

Speaking of bows and clips...

 ...Lily likes to experiment with them too! 

On her Daddy's head!  :-)



I will wrap up the randomness of this post with a couple pictures from this past weekend!  We had our hospital tour on Sunday, followed by our final shower!  We are all ready for Miss Ava Grace now!  :-) 

 My dear friend Beth threw me a wonderful shower on Sunday afternoon!  It was a drop-in and it was so fun and relaxing to sit and visit and catch up with friends!

The cake matched my bedding was was strawberry filled - SO yummy!  For the food she did a biscuit buffet!  It was so cute!  She had different sized biscuits fresh from the oven along with bacon, sausage, baked ham, chicken, fresh butter, and a variety of jellies!  It was such a neat idea for a shower and everyone enjoyed it so much!  I made sure I ate plenty for myself and for Ava Grace!  ;-)

Thank you for a wonderful shower Beth!

Well, hopefully you are now caught up on most of the business that's been going on in the Hooper household here lately!  Now I am off to a doctor's appointment (they are weekly now), and then home to do some cleaning and packing!  :-)  I'll try to update again VERY soon... but no promises, lol!

Menu Plan Update...

Just a little note to say the Cheddar Beer Chicken featured in this menu post and found on Pinterest was a flop!  I have deleted it off my board.  Just didn't want anyone to waste their time trying it.  The pre-minced potatoes were not good at all and when left in the crock pot for that long turn to mush.  I saved the chicken to use in a casserole, but the rest was a waste.... we ended up having Pizza!  lol.  Never know 'til ya' try!

Pregnancy Highlights... 33 weeks!

How Far Along:

33.5 weeks

Size of Baby:

About 4 lbs

Total Weight Gain:

17 lbs 

Maternity Clothes:

Thank Goodness!  :-)

I live in Maternity jeans and plain long sleeved shirts with various accessories! lol

Gender:

Sweet Baby Girl

Movement:

More squirms and wiggles than kicks these days - she's running out of room!  She is close to head down, but not quite, with her little booty and feet in my upper right rib cage and her head and hands down toward my left hip!  :-)

Sleep:

Interrupted.  Lots of potty breaks and lots of shifting from one side to the other and back again.

Symptoms:

Heart. Burn. (lol)

and a belly that makes it hard to bend down and hard to get up ;-)

What I Miss:

NOT shutting my belling the car door and refrigerator on a regular basis.  NOT feeling like a klutz, bumping into things and dropping things all the time.  And, of course, my wine. Mmmm. 

Cravings:

My sweet tooth is still on overdrive!  I've kept it in check though, only indulging on occasion.  ;-)

Best Moment This Week:

Doctor visit!  I love doctor visits!  I love getting praised on perfect blood pressure, weight gain, baby girl's heart rate, and hearing all the updates!  We are getting so close!!  :-)

What I'm Looking Forward To:

Holding our sweet girl and seeing her tiny little face!  We are so excited!!!

Baby it's cold outside...

This morning we a woke to a cold and damp morning.  It was oh so hard to get up.  We were hoping for a day out of school, but we didn't get it!  We did, however, get to see the first flurries of the season!

I took Chris to school this morning :-)  and we drove through some raindrops and wet snowflakes on the way while we enjoyed a few more morning moments together before the day's work began.

After I dropped him off, I turned on my FAVORITE Christmas CD - Christmas With The Rat Pack.  It doesn't get any better.  My favorite song on the whole album?  "Baby It's Cold Outside."  A duet by Dean Martin and... well... ME!  lol

Now I am back inside and cozy with my Gingerbread candle burning!  I am gearing up for a very productive day of laundry and house straightening (as much as you can straighten a house that is getting ready to be moved... again... lol).  I am also going to do some cooking and baking today...

Cheddar Beer Chicken for the crock pot for dinner tonight.

Possibly some make ahead meals for after Ava Grace comes.

Some sausage balls for the freezer to have on hand for breakfasts.

Some mini quiche to have in the freezer for breakfasts too!

And...

some peanut butter blossoms... just 'cause my Lily has a rockin' sweet tooth and will be oh so surprised to come home to these!!  :-)  ...or maybe I'll keep them a secret and sneak them in her lunch box... mmm!  We'll see!  Either way, she'll be delighted!

I hope you all have a wonderfully cozy day!

Hugs to all!

Menu Monday... and catching up!

Oh my goodness!

I feel so behind on.... everything!

It's amazing that even staying home I can be so busy.  I have been filling my time with getting ready for Ava Grace (via books and articles and DVDs and organizing, of course).  Add to that house shopping, an upcoming court date (Lily stuff), a holiday, and 2 "homes" to maintain, and a hopping Pampered Chef business and some photography stuff too - whew!  So today, I will attempt to get back in the swing of things! 

Here is my menu plan this week:

Monday:

Barbecue and Potato Salad (made last night)

Tuesday:

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie Cups (Pinterest)

Wednesday:

Crock Pot Cheddar Beer Chicken

Thursday:

Leftovers...or a casserole from the freezer

Friday:

Grilled BBQ Chicken

with green beans and potatoes

Saturday:

Lasagna (Lily's request)

and

Chicken Fingers (because Chris can't do Italian since he came down with his stomach virus a few weeks ago on ravioli night... enough said, lol)

Sunday:

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

(mmm...one of my favorites!)

We had THE MOST relaxing and wonderful Thanksgiving Break!  We got to see both Chris' family and my family.  We ate until we were stuffed and then ate again.  Chris and I attempted a little Black Friday shopping in the middle of the night - it lasted all of 30 minutes and we left laughing so hard we could barely walk the zillion miles to our car, lol.  (Friday night we scored our Black Friday Deal anyway... without crowds... thank you Franklin, KY and Wal-Mart where we were passing through after dropping Lily off at her mother's).  And the rest of the break?  A lot of quality time together - watching football and movies snuggled up on the couch!  It was WONDERFUL!

I took a few pictures while we were in Chattanooga... I always get so busy visiting and enjoying myself that I don't take as many as I would like!  But, here are a few family shots...

 Cousins: Kenslee, Bentlee, Lily, and Elizabeth

 My sweet family:  The ever growing belly containing Ava Grace, myself, Lily, and Chris

 My amazing Parents...

We are so blessed to have them in our lives!

Lily, Kenslee (always on the move) and Bentlee 

...and Lily, Elizabeth, and Bentlee again!

It's so fun having the kids around!  They provide endless entertainment and laughs!  They always have such a good time together at Thanksgiving!

I hope your holiday weekend was as fun and full as ours was!  :-)  Now... counting down 'til Christmas!  :-)

Baby Shower #2

"Little Southern Lady"

This was the theme of baby shower number two!

I knew that with Lauren and Megan planning this shower, it was sure to be something very special!  I was, of course, not disappointed!

For my second shower, we had to go to Bell Buckle, TN!  Megan and Lauren had reserved a back room area of the historic Bell Buckle Cafe for my Little Southern Lady themed shower!  It was SUCH a neat setting for a shower!  The decorations, the theme, the charm, and the menu...

My entire pregnancy I have been dreaming (literally) of desserts!  It's so funny!  I have dreamed of my granny cooking desserts, of dessert buffets, of my refrigerator full of desserts!  It's the strangest thing, and I'd be lying if I said it hasn't caused me to crave sweets a little!  So for my shower, Megan and Lauren had a complete menu of southern desserts from which to order!  It was a dessert shower - and they were SO GOOD!

True to the theme (and to Tennessee), the favors were Mason jars filled with raw cotton, Moon Pies, and GooGoo Clusters!  :-) 

 These girls sure do know me well!

Thank you so much La and Moo!  My shower was perfect and I loved every second!

 Mama came to spend the whole weekend with me - we had SO. MUCH. FUN.  You could say the shopping mo-jo was certainly with us!  So my "shower gift" was the entire weekend getting ready for baby from fabric for window treatments to nursing necessities and even a sewing machine and refresher course on how to use one!  I am SO blessed to have a loving and amazing Mama who is truly also a best friend!

 (Sarah, Lauren, Megan and myself.)

(Megan and her Mama, Nana Jo!) 

 (My dear friends, Debbie and Betsy)

Lauren always does amazing gift baskets!  Here is what she gave at the shower... see the little linen hand towel?  It says "Southern Belle In Training!"  SO cute! 

Lauren and I aren't big on shower games, but Moo loves a good game, so I am pretty sure there was a compromise, lol.  No real games, but we did all have a sheet to fill out for Ava Grace!  A whole list of things like, "I hope you always _____, and I hope you grow up to be ______, and I hope you laugh _______."  We filled them out and I read them out loud and we all guessed who wrote each one.  When I got home, I told Chris about it and he couldn't wait to fill one out!  He filled his out and then we read through them all together... it was a very tender and tearful moment for both of us.  What wonderful, loving friends we have!

November Girl's Night

In a life of busy schedules and tight budgets it's sometimes hard to find time to just go have fun!  Recently, my friend Lena declared that we were way overdue for a girls night and we all whole-heatedly agreed!  Once it was decided we needed a girls night, pronto, we began the process of narrowing down a date and time we were all free!  This is a challenge in and of itself, but after that comes the, "what do you want to do?" which is also sometimes a challenge.  We tossed around some ideas, like going to paint or doing dinner and a movie, but decided that those didn't allow us to really connect and catch up.  Then, Lena had a great idea!  A pot luck, at her house, with a surprise craft!  I was so excited I could hardly stand it and counted down the days until our fun night arrived!

Each of us were assigned a "category" for our dish (veggie, dessert, drinks, etc) and we ended up with YUMMY barbecue, cheese biscuits, green beans, loaded smashed potatoes, pineapple cheese casserole, chocolate chip pecan pie, and lemonade!  YUM!  Needless to say, we ate until we were stuffed! 

We were also asked to bring wired Christmas ribbon and 1 box of ornaments.  The actual craft was kept a surprise until we got there!  

After dinner, while we all talked and laughed and enjoyed the company of each other, Lena broke out some wreath forms and fabric and began her tutorial on how to make a rag wreath! 

 It was so fun and so relaxing!

I can't tell you how much I love having these women in my life!  We sat and as we worked on our wreathes we told stories and talked about babies and shared advice.  It was so nice!

 I think time got away from all of us and before we knew it, we had been crafting and talking for over 3 hours.

And everyone's final product was uniquely their own.  Combinations of themes and colors that fit their personalities!  Here is a picture of my finished wreath!  :-)  I can't wait to hang it up!

We all enjoyed ourselves so much we decided to make this something we do for every holiday!  I'll be hosting the next one because it'll be in February for Valentine's day and Ava Grace will still be tiny!  I have already been searching pinterest for fun ideas for our surprise craft!  I can't wait!!!

Baby Shower # 1

I has been over a week since I posted, which really surprises me!  It feels like I have been SO busy.  I have been overwhelmed by the desire to "nest," but because we are planning to move from our town house into a "real" house here in a few weeks, it's pretty hard to set up for baby!  Luckily Mom coached me up this weekend and I have spent several days now happily doing what I can to get ready for Ava Grace and I feel much better!  One of the things that has occupied my time has been going through all the wonderful gifts we have received from friends and family!  I have been organizing, removing tags, will be washing little clothes soon, and all that fun stuff!  So, for my return to the blog I need to rewind and tell you how we got all these sweet baby things and update you on what we've been up to the past week!

We'll start with baby shower #1

My sister-in-law, Sarah, planned a beautiful shower for me last weekend, so we all headed to Chattanooga for a weekend full of family and fun!

I love the wreath that Sarah made!  It greeted us on the front porch when we arrived at the shower!

This is a picture of our bedding.  I wanted to put it on here for two reasons.  One, to show you how everything at the shower matched the bedding - it was so cute!  Also, to say that we got our bedding at this shower and I was so relieved!  I am so blessed to have a husband that enjoys being involved in every aspect of our family and parenting, right down to decorating the nursery!  It took us a while to find bedding that we both loved!  There were several that we liked, but we wanted something that we both would really be excited about!  Then, when we found it, it was out of stock! lol.  So, my sweet friends Moo and La came to rescue, finding the bedding on babysupermall.com and sharing my concern about bedding with my mom.  I was very surprised to get my complete bedding set from Mom at this shower and relieved to mark it off our list!  :-)

The strawberry cake (my favorite!) matched the bedding and theme of the shower decor!  Isn't this the prettiest cake ever!?!?  It was just as yummy as it looks!

 And of course there were girly balloons and baby things all around the house... I thought this clothes line was a cute shower idea!

 Sarah had also prepared a lot of WONDERFUL food!

 We planned the shower date so Lily could come too!  I think she'd kill us if we went to Chattanooga without her... especially to "Bentlee's house."  This trip was extra special because of the shower, but also because...

 ...Lily was invited to spend the night!

These two girls have SO. MUCH. FUN. together!

They did all the fun sleepover things like stay up late, drink caffeinated drinks, and eat lots of chocolate!

 Here I am with Sarah - the hostess with the mostest!

 ...and here I am opening gifts - with lots of help!  :-)  Kenslee, Brady, and the big girls were big helpers as I unwrapped all the wonderful gifts for Ava Grace!

We got tons of cute clothes, necessities like diapers, wipes, burp cloths, toys, etc, our pack and play, our swing, and our bedding!  Lily even got in on the action with some crazy socks, a monogrammed bag (gotta love thirty-one), books about a new baby sister, stencil and art fun, and all kinds of goodies!

Overall, it was a WONDERFUL day with friends and family!  I am so thankful for everything we received!



Menus and Recipes and Virus Outbreak, OH MY!

We are recovering from a virus outbreak in our house!

A stomach virus swept through late this weekend/Monday.  Ew.  Fortunately, I avoided it (so far), but with it came a computer virus for me.  I rushed my laptop to Best Buy... they encouraged me to leave it in their care to fix over the next 4-5 days to the tune of almost $400.  It would seem I did pay for the service plan, but not the one that would cover a virus (of course).  Thank God, they were able to block the pop up so I could access my files.  This enabled me to back up some important files and bought me some time so I could call my good friend Covin who walked me through step by step and had me backed up and my computer back on its feet and healthy as could be in under 30 minutes, at no cost, and I didn't lose a thing!  I am so thankful, words just can't express!

Anyway, that's why this week's menu plan and recipe dish is a day late!  :-)

Before we get to our menu plan, I wanted to post this picture (above) and recipe (click the picture) for Monterrey Chicken.  We made it... it was TOO easy and delicious!  It's a big time keeper I found on Pinterest and tried last week.  :-)

This week's Menu includes...

Monday:

Chicken Noodle Soup for the sickling and grilled cheese for me! lol

Tuesday:

Another try-and-see from Pinterest,

Cheddar Beer Chicken and Potatoes

(in the crock pot)

(click the picture to link to the recipe... it's a Sandra Lee) 

Wednesday:

No Peek Chicken:

a favorite in my house!

Thursday:

Girl's Night Out

Chris will be on his own with leftovers

Friday:

Mexican Chicken Chili

Saturday:

Pampered Chef Party

Chris will be on his own with leftovers again, lol

Sunday:

Sausage Cream Cheese Squares...

and other football-y foods!  :-)