An Apple Shower for Us!

I am so behind on this blog! First things first - I need to share pictures from my adorable baby shower here in Maryland! My amazing sister-in-law Lori threw me a fabulous shower that had an apple theme to it (for Lindsey and the "apple of her eye"). It was so cute because it fit me so well. Green is definitely my color of choice when it comes to the little boy, and I am obsessed with apples and have eaten them like crazy during this pregnancy (usually 2 or 3 a day!). So it was perfect! Here I am with two of my most wonderful friends ... Lori and Tristina, who recently moved to North Carolina and flew up for the day just to be there!

The decorations were darling. Green apples everywhere, including ones that had been made into little candle holders, and a bright green tree with silver apple ornaments for the guests to take home.

And the food was delicious! Green salad with apples and other goodies, sliced apples with a fancy dip, a giant "It's a boy" chocolate chip cookie, sugar cookies decorated like green apples, apple cheesecake bars ...

... mini apple pie bites, mini chocolate cupcakes with green frosting, some apple crumb bars ...

... and some adorable mini caramel apple bites. It was quite the spread and it was all sooooo good. Just enough apple to balance out all the sweetness ;) Thanks to Lori, Tristina, Sheryl, Amy, Cathi, and Liesel for making it all!!

It was pretty crazy because along with my shower, Dec. 5 also brought the first snow storm of the season! It was pretty nasty out, but many wonderful friends still made it out to celebrate little boy Dastrup.

Of course I loved opening the many wonderful gifts we received! This little guy is going to be spitting up on the cutest stuff.

I also received lots of great baby books which I am so excited to read to my little boy (and I already have been!).

I can't believe how many wonderful friends I have out here who gave wonderful gifts and advice and are more than willing to help out when this baby comes. Thank you so much! It was also pretty cool that some of my closest friends who moved away after graduation last spring sent gifts for me to open at my shower. What a surprise!!

Finally, one last picture of 3 of the pregos at the shower (there was at least one more who hadn't announced just yet!). These two are having baby girls. Guess our little guy will have lots of lady friends! :)

By now we are getting close to being ready ... but we still aren't quite there yet. We've got 4 weeks to go, and are hoping he doesn't come more than a week early. And PLEASE don't come late ... the two of us can barely fit inside my skin anymore!

Thanksgiving in Utah

As soon as we found out we'd be having a baby in January and would be home again for Christmas, we decided that Thanksgiving would be the perfect occasion to take our last cross-country trip just the two of us and spend time with family while I was prego. It was also our first time leaving Maryland for Thanksgiving! We both took the week off of work (a much bigger deal for Joe than for me) and looked forward to a fun, relaxing 9 days in Utah Valley.

We managed to squeeze a lot of fun things into our trip while still having time to just chill. Of course we had to hit up some of our favorite eating establishments - Cafe Rio (I've been craving it for months), Jamba Juice (I kept craving it while I was there), Brick Oven (yet another "craving"), and for Joe .... getting to try a polish from JDawg's for the first time, and satisfying his four-year craving for the California Burrito at Rancherito's (formerly Beto's). It did not disappoint.
Just look at that goodness (looks nasty to me).

Strangely enough, the first day of our trip was when I started to experience a few of the not-so-fun parts of being pregnant that I had previously avoided. After being on my feet packing, doing laundry, and running errands all day and then sitting on the plane all evening, my feet and legs were swollen and killing me by the time we went to bed. Consequently, the rest of the trip I had to make sure to spend a little time each day with my feet up, and Joe was a great sport and started giving me leg and feet massages at night.

Here we are dressed up for church ... me at almost 32 weeks.

Things were a little bit different than usual due to the fact that my dad was only 4 weeks out from his knee replacement surgery. He was able to get out and about a little bit, but not for very long. Hence we had to enjoy all the BYU sporting events without him - not the same!! On a trip to Target he realized he was never going to be able to make it all the way around the store on his crutches - hence the motorized cart. We got a kick out of it.

On Thanksgiving day Joe played in a turkey bowl with Katie & David and I stayed in bed. Then I sat around with my feet up and watched everyone else cook! Actually, I was in charge of the rolls and salad. But I definitely did a little more watching than I would have otherwise ... my family was great to make sure the little guy & I were taken care of :) Joe took charge of brining the turkey the night before and roasting it the next day, as well as making the stuffing (or dressing ... since it didn't actually get stuffed). He was a champ and we enjoyed one of the best turkeys EVER!

After dinner, it was time for our annual Thanksgiving tradition of decorating our gingerbread house! Since I haven't been around lately to participate I was pretty excited about it. I helped my mom plan out the design, shop for the candy, and bake the house the day before. In the morning she glued everything together and added candy windows. And while she made all the frosting, I got to work.

Gingerbread-house decorating (Lewis style) is a very long and involved process. Basically, it means that the men get neglected for the rest of the day while they watch football, and we exhaust ourselves adding detail after detail. But it is fun!

Here's our finished product! We didn't quite finish it in one day, but we got it done eventually.

With lights!

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to attend 4 BYU sporting events - 2 football games and 2 basketball games. For the 9 years I lived in Utah I rarely missed a football game, and after 5 years it was great to be back!! The Utah game was especially exciting.

I predicted we'd come out on top ...

And I was right! Joe was so excited he insisted on rushing the field while the rest of us headed to the car. He pulled up some grass to bring home to my Dad so he could feel like he'd been there as well ;) And when we got home and were watching a replay of the final seconds, we noticed that Joe was caught on camera! The first fan to be shown (although very briefly) after the big win. Sweet.

The best part of the week was just getting to sit around and enjoy being around my family and spending more time than usual with Joe. I feel very grateful to have had those 9 days with them at this exciting time in our lives. My mom & sister loved feeling the belly and watching it grow. The next time I see them, the belly will be (mostly) gone and they'll get to see our baby boy!!

"Feathering the Nest"

While we were in Utah for Thanksgiving, the little boy and I were lucky enough to enjoy a fantastic shower hosted by my mom and attended by many wonderful friends. The shower had kind of a "nesting" theme and the decorations were really cute!

My mom made an adorable diaper cake complete with a little bird's nest on top. It was the first thing I saw when I walked in the door late Friday night (the night before the shower). So exciting!!! The hat and boots on top are darling and the bottom layer is filled with homemade burp cloths and adorable little outfits.

For brunch, we had fresh belgian waffles, lots of fresh berries, blueberry scones, and mini pumpkin muffins. Sooo delicious.

Lucky us - we were spoiled with so many great gifts, from blankets and clothes, to books and CDs. Here I'm admiring a super soft blanket made by my Grandma :)

And another one made by my mom. There were several more she made that I am just in love with!

All the little clothes were so much fun - honestly I was a bit surprised by how absolutely adorable they all were (I really haven't shopped much for the little guy yet!). This was a cozy little outfit from two of Joe's younger sisters, Michelle and Angelica.

And the shoes! I know he won't be wearing these until he's a bit older, but it is incredibly fun to imagine him running around in them! And of course my life will all of a sudden be consumed by chasing after him. I can hardly believe it :)

A sock monkey! SO cute.

The guests were sent home with cute "egg" magnets.

Sadly because everything was so crazy I didn't end up getting pictures with my guests. Here's one taken the next day with Joe's sisters and a possible future sister-in-law.

It was wonderful to be supported by so many family members and friends! Thanks to everyone's generosity, our little boy now has more clothes than Joe does! Haha.

Interesting Article on Parenting

Click here for an interesting article from Time Magazine: The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting. My mom sent it to me, and I am putting it on my blog so I can find it in the future when I am tempted to sign our little guy up for eight extra-curricular activities while he's in kindergarten and help him with all his homework. Of course we want to give him many opportunities to have fun and find his passions in life (is 6 sports too many??), and I would never refuse homework help when needed (when can we start calculus?!). But I hope I can get my over-achiever, OCD tendencies to move to the backburner when it comes to parenting. I just want to lighten up a little and let him be a carefree, happy kid! Seriously, I can't wait to be his mom, and for Joe to be his Dad. What an adventure!!! Little boy, we are ready!! (Almost.)

Old Man in the House!!

Yes, Joe had a birthday! Sadly, Joe rang in his 30th year (yep, he's 29!) without much fanfare. But he did enjoy a birthday burger at Fuddrucker's with me, Nate, Lori, & Reese. He also enjoyed a spectacular carrot cake I made for him! Mmmmm it was good. Grating all those carrots was sooo worth it! Here's Joe contemplating his birthday wish while listening to our terrible singing. We started a new tradition with the Millers of doing a terrible, off-key rendition of happy birthday and let me tell you, it's a lot of fun. Way less awkward and more entertaining!!

Joe had no problem with the 29 candles.

And here's the birthday boy with me & the baby. Almost a cute little family of 3. Almost!!

Side note: Joe has introduced me to a number of his colleagues at work recently, and each time it goes something like this: "I'd like you to meet my wife ... and here's my child!!" (pointing to the belly) It's cute. :)

Hope you have a great year, Joe!!

Mission: Accomplished

It's been quite an ordeal (really, a surprisingly big ordeal), but I finally have both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccinations. I know, I know ... it seems like people are making way too big a deal out of the "swine" and all that. It's just the flu, after all! But all I can say is that when you're pregnant, you start seeing things from a different angle and pay a lot closer attention to all the possible complications and dangers to you and your baby. And, since the fierce parental instinct to do anything you can to protect your baby has long since set in, it's not a matter of what you're going to do, but how you're going to get it done!

Getting the H1N1 vaccination in Maryland has been tough. Joe lucked out and got his a couple weeks ago ... he happened to be doing his ER rotation when the VA vaccinated its ER workers. When the announcement was made, he was the second person in line, and after saying he had a pregnant wife at home, the needle went right in. Then we had to find one for me. Two Saturdays ago we left the house at 7 a.m. to get in a line for vaccinations which would begin at 10. Sadly, we got there around 7:30 only to turn back around - the line was already over a quarter mile long, and with guests at home we couldn't really stand the thought of waiting in the rain for 5 hours with the possibility of going home antibody-less.

So we kept at it. I made numerous calls to my OBGYN and regular doctor with no luck. Then I figured out how to get on the county list for appointment-only vaccinations. When some clinics opened up a few days ago, I called about 60 times before getting through and then kept my phone within inches of me for an entire day waiting for a return call to set up an appointment. (Actually - I made the mistake of missing the first call because I was in a meeting and had to repeat the calling process to get back on the list, so I made sure not to miss it again! My goodness!)

Anyway, now that I'm vaccinated I feel a tiny bit more at ease, but I know it doesn't provide comprehensive protection by any means. Almost every day I feel so utterly exhausted, out of it, and not like myself that I think I must be coming down with something (riding the metro with all kinds of crazy people just adds to my anxiety). So far, though, I've always woken up feeling better the next morning. We'll hope it keeps up. Try to help me out by staying away from me if you're sick. We have to keep our baby growing healthy and strong for 74 more days!!

Visitors!!

We were excited to have Joe's brother Dan & his girlfriend, Jade, come stay with us last week. Dan was interviewing and checking out the dental school, so we tried to show them a little bit of Baltimore and what living in Maryland has to offer. Luckily it only rained 2/3 of the time they were here ... which was okay since we still got to enjoy the Amish Market (indoors) as well as the spectacular drive there, plus lots of football-watching. What can I say, Jade & I just couldn't get enough.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day ... we walked around the DC temple and then gave a driving tour of DC (it was getting late, and Dan & Jade took the train in to tour around the next day). All the fall colors were soooo pretty.

I sure am sporting quite the baby bump now! And I'm happy to have made it to my third trimester :)

Unfortunately the rain returned for our night down in Inner Harbor with Nate, Lori, & baby Reese. But we still had fun, and it made it that much easier to hurry home for SYTYCD!! Dan, you better keep watching, or ELSE!!