Blazing Hot!

I just had to document how hot it currently is. Right now at 2:21 pm (which I realize is the hottest part of the day, but still) it's 90 degrees outside, but with the humidity 68%, and heat index it feels like 104. People kept telling me 'oh, you picked a bad time of the year to be pregnant.' I thought they were all over exaggerating and it really wouldn't be that bad. Well, I'm having second thoughts about it and I'm starting to agree with them. It's hot. And I'm hot inside my house with the ac and fans. Today I gave in and pushed the ac temp down to 75. Florida is hot this time of year, but normally it's only in the low to mid 80s, so about a good 10 degrees cooler. I'm praying it cools back down for the rest of the summer. Oh, little baby furnace...

Montgomery

This weekend we went up to Montgomery, AL to visit the Bryant's and Bernardoni's. They are both moving and currently up at SOS. Friday was Joah's 2nd birthday (the Bryant's little boy and our godson) and so we went up to help celebrate. It was a great time with them. 
One of the things we did during the weekend was take the trolley tour of the city. It's a great deal, only a $1 a person! It was really interesting hearing about all of the historical things that have taken place in Montgomery. The picture below is of Martin Luther Kings house. 

Saturday night we went to a minor league baseball game, the Montgomery Biscuits. It was the first baseball game Joah went to. (Sorry, Bryants for the not so flattering picture! It's the only one I got of you. :(   )

Brandon and Sarah at the game.

Week 32/ Month 8

Here's the belly shot! :) There's no denying now that I'm pregnant. The last few weeks I've started having strangers ask me when the baby is due, etc. It's interesting how they wait until there is no question if I'm pregnant or just carrying some extra weight, before asking about being pregnant. 

Things continue to go great. No complications. I'm healthy and the baby is healthy. We feel really blessed and are praying for the pregnancy to continue this way. At my doctors appointment on Friday they did a quick ultrasound to check the position of the baby. She has turned and now facing head down! I'm praying she stays this way until she's ready to come out! It was fun to get to have a quick glance at our little girl. She has hair, we could see it in the ultrasound. :) 

The other interesting news in babyland, is we've started taking birthing classes at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center where I'll be giving birth. We've now gone to 2 of the 6 classes that are 2 1/2 hours each. The classes combine all the info on preparing for labor and the details of that, with Lamaze exercises.  I feel like they are going to give us the preparation we need when the time comes. At least, as much as we can have, not having had a baby before! 

Hunter Gatherer

Joe bought a crab trap back in March and since then has had quite the success with catching crabs. The two type of crabs he catches are blue crabs and stone crabs. The blue crabs are actually blue. The stone crabs are brown with large claws. We only eat the claws of the stone crabs, so Joe just breaks one of them off and throws the guy back into the water. The claws regenerate. He only takes one claw to leave the crab something to defend themselves with. The meat of the blue crab is sweet and better tasting. He tends to catch more of them as well. I think over all he's caught around 15 or so that we've eaten. The other thing with the blue crabs is that they take so much work to get all of the meat out of them they need to be big enough to be worth the effort. So, he's actually caught many more, they just haven't been big enough to eat. 

Below is a picture of the crab trap with crabs in it. He just throws the trap off of the dock that is behind our house. Pin fish or chicken carcasses are the best bait. 

Joe working on getting the crabs out. 

One of the blue crabs in our kitchen sink. 

Some of the crabs after being boiled. No matter what color they start out as, they all turn reddish orange after being cooked. 

Garden Update

My garden is doing well. The tomato plants have gotten HUGE! I had no idea they would grow so much. I should've put them in two different pots instead of cramming them into one. But there are tomatoes growing on them and a few are starting to turn red. I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks we'll be able to eat them! 

The plant on the left is the tomato plants, the one to the right is the pepper plant. There are two peppers that just need to turn red on it and a few more growing. The small plant in the middle is the basil plant. It is full, time to make more pesto! 

These are the rest of my flowers, blooming nicely. 

Week 28/Month 7

This Friday we went to the doctor for my 7 month check up. This month is when they check for gestational diabetes. I got to drink 50 ml of straight glucose. It's not bad tasting. I looked and tasted like a flat orange Sunkist. The downside of it is you only have 3 minutes to drink about 12 oz. of fluid on an empty stomach and it's quite sweet. So by the end it's a bit much. I'll find out sometime this week my results. The doctor doesn't think I should come back positive. I'm still quite healthy and so is our little girl. We're down to less than 3 months left! 

Baby Shower

My good friend, Sarah Bernardoni hosted a baby shower for me.  All of the women from the Thursday study, Navs and other friends in the area were all invited. It was a really great time and I felt very honored and blessed. 

My parents were down here visiting as well, so my Mom was able to come to the shower. It was really special to be able to have her there. I'm glad she got to be a part and to meet more of my friends.

 

Lots of yummy food! 

One of my few requests for the shower was to have 'fun' drinks. Sarah did a great job having 6 or so drinks to pick from all served in cute martini glasses with little umbrellas. 

L to R: Elizabeth Olmstead, Jo Fairchild, Mom, me, Andrea Weedman, Sarah Jones

Sarah B. the hostess with the mostess and myself. Thanks for the awesome shower! 

Opening gifts! The ladies from my Thursday study all went in together and got the crib bedding. 

One of the things I had asked for were books that had a Christian theme to them. The Bernardoni's got us this really cool Chronicals of Narnia pop-up book. 

The group of ladies who were able to make it! I treasure each of your friendships!

At the end of the shower the spent some time praying for me and the baby. It was really special.