Restless

Now that I'm off bedrest and have the ability to get up and do things-- I've been a tad busy.  All of a sudden, I had a STRONG desire to get all this stuff done that I'd been putting off and putting off.  

First off, I did my first load of laundry in two weeks.  Gavin wanted to help me so I let him.  I went upstairs to get another load and came down to this. 

 

I also spent some time working on a few projects that I've had in my possession, literally, for a year now.  I've ordered lots of things from a friend of mine who sells Uppercase Living and if you bought so much product, you were given freebies.  Well, I've had my freebies with all my scrapbook stuff and figured once we got here, I'd work on them so it would give me something to do.  Needless to say, I wanted something to do-- so I chose to make these signs.

 

I've also been brainstorming with what to do with Miles room, since it doubles as the guest room.  I'm not quite sure what theme I want to go with and the comforter on the bed in that room is just throwing me off.  Not quite sure how to make it look like a nursery, with a theme, when that room has multiple functions.  It's also our storage area and catch all room.

So, I decided to make Miles a sign to hang above his crib.  I brought my cricut with me and ALL my craft supplies so it was easy for me to make something, versus ordering something off line and attempting to get it shipped here.  My cricut cuts vinyl so I set out over a month ago in an attempt to find some kind of vinyl somewhere.  I'm excited to say I don't have to look very hard anymore.  There are several stores around here that sale vinyl and tons of it.  They call it vinyl, but sale it as colored contact paper.  It does the same job as the vinyl that Hobby Lobby and Michael's sale, but A LOT CHEAPER!  I can find it in numerous colors (not all the colors I'd like to have it in), but still, I'm not going to be picky.  When we move home I'm planning on stocking up on the vinyl and putting it in our sea shipment-- it's literally $6.00 a roll for 3x as much as what I've bought in the states.  What a deal!

Here's the sign I made.  I painted it the colors of the crib bedding and made his name really large.  I found some ribbon that matched his bedding as well and put a cute little border around the canvas.  I ran out and had to improvise a little, but I still think it's cute.  You can't really tell, but there is a ribbon attached to the top of the canvas that is hanging the painting on the wall.

To add to all that we've been doing and what's been going on.... one of our AC units broke and they had to come replace it.  They brought a tractor, as Gavin called it, out to the house to get onto the roof to make repairs.  We also had the valve break on our hot water heater.  The beauty of living on a compound is when you have issues like these you pick up the phone, dial 0, tell the operator your problem and within 10-15 minutes you have workers coming to fix all your issues!  It was really nice getting these things taken care of and the best part about it all.... we aren't going to get billed for it!

I've enjoyed the last few days getting out, running errands, eating lunch at a restaurant, doing laundry, and more importantly getting to have Gavin with me all day and spending time with him.  I'm starting to realize my time with just him and I is dwindling so I want to make the most of it.

I'm still 28

Even though this post is technically about the continued celebration of my 28th birthday, it's really more about bragging on Brooks for being such a great husband.  My actual birthday was on a Friday, which is our Sunday's here so Brooks was home from work for the weekend.  I woke up around 8:30am and walked downstairs to a delicious smell!!  I walked into the kitchen and saw Brooks making my traditional birthday breakfast--- a breakfast that I COMPLETELY forgot about.  I don't know if I forgot about it because I hadn't been at the grocery store in two weeks to get the ingredients OR if I just didn't expect to have the breakfast because we're here.  Again, not real sure why I was so surprised, but it was such a special treat that Brooks remembered, found all the ingredients in our pantry and freezer, got up "early", turned the monitor off so I didn't hear Gavin when he woke up, cooked the breakfast, and had it ready for when I woke up.  I can't tell you how excited I got or how special Brooks made me feel, but it was the perfect start to a great day!!  

My traditional birthday breakfast--- blueberry muffins and lil' smokies!  

Gavin liked the breakfast, too!

Sitting on the kitchen table was also a birthday gift that Gavin really wanted to help me open!

It's a new camera- small enough to fit in my purse.  Gavin broke our other one that we've had since our wedding when he got a hold of it one day.

I LOVE IT!!  Thanks babe!!  Gavin was already saying "cheese" to the camera, in the box.

The sweet, thoughtful men in my life.  Brooks said that Gavin was a huge help in the kitchen making the muffins and he kept calling the lil' smokies, "hot dogs".

Thanks babe for making my 28th birthday so special!  You are my favorite!!

I turned 28

I turned 28 last week and had a great day.  We actually celebrated my birthday a little earlier in the week because so many of our friends were leaving on vacation or were going back to the states for the holidays.  Brooks planned a fun dinner.  He invited the guests and made all the arrangements himself.  He cooked a delicious meal- smothered chicken that was a BIG hit for everyone.  Brooks had planned this party before I went on bed rest, so all the ladies were gracious enough to help him out where I couldn't.  Plus, no one let me do anything.  I was allowed to sit the entire time!  We really had a fun time with everyone and it was great celebrating my birthday with such amazing friends. 

I was surprised with a few gifts for my birthday.  My three neighbors gave me a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure at the salon on our compound.  As good of a job as Brooks did on my pedicure, they felt I deserved the opportunity to get pampered!  I also got a few cake decorating tools from Stephanie and Micah. I promise after Miles gets here and I've had some time to re cooperate-- these will ALL get used!  I just need my parents to bring candy melts over with them so I can use the neat warming cups... cake pops here I come!!  

  

For my birthday, I really wanted a cookie cake and since they don't take that long to make and I had leftover icing from a previous cake, Brooks gave me "permission" to get in the kitchen while I was supposed to be resting, but I was on a time limit.  I got really nervous once the first cake baked that there wasn't going to be enough for everyone so I threw together another cake really fast.  That's the beauty of buying in bulk here in Saudi.  I had 6 containers of chocolate chip cookie dough in my freezer.  As you can see- the 2nd cake's decorating was put on the back burner b/c I had reached my time limit of being "up".

My birthday party was a blast and I'm so grateful to be surrounded my such wonderful people!

My actual birthday, December 3rd, was just as great as this party was!  I'll post about that next!

35 weeks

I made it to 35 weeks on Thursday and was very excited and relieved that Miles had not arrived yet.  Since he's been teasing us for a few weeks, I decided to start taking a picture every week of my growing belly incase that may be the last week we see it.  I'm definitely continuing to grow every day and things are starting to get a little more difficult in the moving around department.  I'm averaging waking up 3 times a night to go pee and I've noticed that Miles has gotten lower in the past week or two.  Just check out my 32 weeks belly post and compare the two.  At the same time, I've noticed I can't eat near as much food as I use to and I've started experiencing heartburn, indigestion, and nausea.  Something I did NOT have with Gavin at this point in the pregnancy, not to mention I wasn't sick a single day with Miles during my first trimester so it's interesting to see this change.  It's fine though-- not that big of a deal.  One other change I've noticed that I'm bracing myself for is..... I put a pair of my flip flops on the other day and noticed they felt a little snug.  If you were around me when I was 9 months pregnant with Gavin and just got off of bed rest, then you know that my feet turned into marshmallow shaped balloons and were so massive you couldn't even see that I had individual toes.  HAHAHA-- the joys of being pregnant!  

Below are some fun pictures of Gavin hanging out while we worked on a few things to prepare for Miles' arrival.  Gavin got to enjoy a special cookie from the baby shower. 

 He also got to play with all the diapers and wipes we received.  Brooks would stack them on the bed and Gavin would crash through them.  It entertained him for like an hour.  

 

 

This onesie totally says "Just Like Mummy"

Baby Shower for Miles

Last week, several sweet friends threw me a baby shower for Miles.  I was beyond surprised when they told me they wanted to do this.  I was never expecting to have a shower thrown for us, much less to be blessed by women who have only known us for a few short months.  The whole entire shower, I was filled with overwhelming gratitude for the graciousness that was being shown!!  (sorry for using so many big/serious adjectives)

The hostesses did a great job with decorations, a precious diaper cake, and some yummy food.  There was also a DELICIOUS cake and some personalized sugar cookies that nearly brought me to tears.  You'll see pics of all these things below and I'm sure you'll feel the same way as I did-- they are all sooo CUTE!!!!!  Did I mention they even decorated a Christmas tree with all baby boy ornaments and decorations?  Now, that was clever.  

me and the Hostesses!

I was asked what we needed or wanted for baby Miles, and since we brought EVERYTHING of Gavin's that we owned, there wasn't many suggestions.  However, we did ask for disposable items such as diapers, wipes, and bath stuff.  I think it's safe to say that we won't be purchasing diapers for a LONG TIME.  When I saw the stack of diapers that we received, I couldn't help but laugh, thinking to myself what a nice treat it will be to not go searching for specific diaper sizes.  There were also plenty of gifts for Miles that will come in handy!  He got some cute, cute, cute onesies, pajama outfits, camel rattles, (what else did you expect?), and he even received his first LSU item- a tooth pillow with Mike the Tiger for when he gets older.  

Okay, so there is a really funny story that goes along with this picture...  I'm laughing hysterically because a lady was at my shower, who is from Singapore.  She had never been to a baby "shower" before in her life.  When she received her invitation she asked a few ladies (who are jokesters themselves) what you do at a baby "shower".  They proceeded to tell her that they were all going to "bathe" me.  She was really confused.  They also told her it was required to wear a white t-shirt to the shower.  She was semi- confused, but thought maybe this was a REALLY weird American tradition at baby showers.  Needless to say, they had her going for a while, until she realized it was a joke.  But, she shared her story with us while I was opening her gift- and we all went NUTS listening to her!  We're glad she came-- without a white t-shirt on-- and we're thankful we were able to show her what a real baby shower is like.
 

....And with this picture, you see I'm holding a hat.  It came with a matching pajama outfit in THE.CUTEST.CONTAINER.EVER shaped like a pint of ice cream.  It was called a Pint of Pajamas!  The hat is made to look like ice cream with sprinkles and a cherry on top.  SOOOOO CUTE!!!

There's another picture of me holding a green gun.  One of the ladies thought it would be sweet for Gavin to get a present in the midst of all of Miles' gifts. HE LOVED IT and was very appreciative that he got to open a gift amongst all the bags that came home with us.

There was one "big" baby item that did not make it to Saudi with us and that was our bouncer.  I was shopping with the hostesses a few weeks ago and saw this bouncer and commented on how we needed one.  It was the last present I opened at Miles baby shower.  Now, all we need to do is set it up and it will get A LOT of use from Miles.   Brooks came over to the shower to help with something and got to see all the goodies that we were blessed with!  He had the same reaction he did when he walked into the room from Gavin's baby shower.  It was cute and a priceless memory.  

Just to show you how much we are loved- here are some of the beautiful women that have become a part of our lives over the last few months.  They have also been the ones taking care of us this past week while I've been on bed rest.  Oh yea, haven't mentioned that have I?!?!  The day of my baby shower, I actually started having contractions around 10:15am and they didn't stop until 10:15PM (this was my 3rd episode of contractions in a week).  It was a very long day, one in which I stayed in bed ALL day, except to go to the shower.  There was a car waiting on our compound for us to call and say "let's go to the hospital".  We had packed a bag and were prepared to meet Miles.  We spent a lot of time praying that my contractions would stop and that we wouldn't be meeting Miles that early.  Praise the Lord, they stopped and we didn't go to the hospital- my contractions never became consistent the entire day- they were all over the place.  

After this episode, and being given this information at my previous doctors appointment, Brooks and I decided I needed to go on bed rest for the next 2 weeks, just until I could make it to 36 weeks!  We weren't really sure how bed rest would work, being all the way over here, but God is soooo good! We have meals being cooked and delivered for us every night and in the mornings, different ladies take turns coming and getting Gavin so I can lay down.  Gavin has enjoyed the attention and is loving getting to go to the playground, riding his bike around the compound, and he even got to visit the preschool classroom at the International school and play with the kids.  He watched them put a play on at the school, behaved himself very well, and went to Burger King and got a kids meal.  

It has been a true blessing knowing that he is getting taken care of and is in good hands!  I made it another week and am now 35 weeks.  Our goal is to make it to this Thursday, when I'll be 36 weeks.  At that point, we will feel comfortable welcoming Miles into the world.  However, we're hoping he won't come until closer to his due date, or better yet, once my parent's get here, but we have no control of it and will welcome him when he comes!  

Thank you ladies for a wonderful, memorable shower.  We truly were blessed by all of you and are so grateful and thankful that you are apart of our lives!  Miles Lee Perry is going to feel so loved!

Rolls, Rolls, Rolls

Before we moved to Saudi, Brooks and I always discussed making sure that we kept up with as many holiday traditions as we could while we're over on this side of the world.  For our Thanksgiving celebrations, we were told to bring a dish/food that is something we always eat for Thanksgiving.  Brooks immediately thought about his grandmother's rolls, which she just so happened to teach him how to make two years ago at our house, while I was on bed rest, pregnant with Gavin.  

Brooks and I went on a hunt for all the ingredients he needed in order to make his grandmother's homemade rolls.

- 8 bags of flour

- 10 cans of evaporated milk

- 12 packets of active yeast- and a specific brand no less that we actually found!!!

- too many packs of butter to count

- salt, sugar, baking powder

after 2 days.... two batches in the trash, 6 straight hours of WAITING for dough to rise, lots of issues in between, a little help from Gavin, and 8 batches later.... 

Gavin was telling Brooks that this was HIS "cake"

WE HAD SOME DELICIOUS, AMAZING, GOOD TASTING, GREAT LOOKING HOMEMADE ROLLS.  I was so proud of Brooks for all the work he put into making these rolls.  I would have quit after the first two batches went into the trash, but he kept going and it was all worth it in the end.  Now, he has a part of his grandmother that will stay with him forever and something that we will continue in our family for years to come!  Great job babe!  Can't wait for you to make the batch for Christmas!!