Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was wonderful.  My mom and dad arrived on Wednesday afternoon and helped me with a few last minute preparations.  Lisa and Steve made it in after a very long drive from Chicago with their two dogs, Maya and Addy (including 3 hours of traffic just to get out of the city!).  Over the course of the weekend we played many rounds of Scrabble, Cranium, Euchre, and FIFA World Cup '11 on the Wii.  What a blast!

This was our first Thanksgiving hosting and I think it went well.  We had rosemary roasted turkey (brined for 24 hours), mashed potatoes with celery root and mascarpone cheese, homemade gravy, green bean casserole, brussels spouts and carrots, fresh cranberry sauce, biscuits, and pumpkin chiffon pie with fresh whip cream.  I think the consensus was the cranberry sauce, although the underdog, was the clear winner.

After a little Black Friday shopping we came home to enjoy homemade tortilla soup (it was a CHILLY day!) before heading off to an Ice Bears game.  It happened to be one of the most popular game days - Weiner Dog Races. We didn't know what we had gotten ourselves into.  Basically 40+ owners bring their personal pets to the game and then after the first period they race across the ice rink - there were so many dogs that they had to race in two heats.  My favorite part was watching the dogs that stopped halfway and started doing donuts on the ice.  It was quite a laugh.

After the Ice Bears game

Julia and Wayne

Steve and Lisa

On Saturday Mom, Lis and I enjoyed pedicures at the Aveda salon.  It was nice to have some time to spend with "just the girls" before the family headed back home on Sunday.

Baby update

22 Weeks

Officially starting my 6th month of pregnancy!

The baby has been kicking and moving like crazy.  It really catches me off guard when I am standing in line at the grocery store or talking with a neighbor and all of a sudden I feel a *jab* or better yet a *jab/hook* combination.  Stops me mid sentence.

Wayne got to feel his first kick this past week which was very exciting.  I could feel that the baby was really active and called him over.  Seconds after putting his hand on my belly the baby gave him a high five (perhaps with an elbow or a foot, but it still counts, right?).

We are relieved and grateful that we have what appears to be a healthy baby at our last ultrasound (19.5 weeks).  We have decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby.  I know...I know, a turn of events for those of you that had talked with me previously about this issue.  The ultrasound tech said that she could tell the sex (they usually can by 18 weeks) so we had her print out a photo and she labeled it (boy/girl) and then slipped it into an envelope.  We are planning on opening the envelope at a later time before the baby arrives.  Right now we are trying to come up with some creative ways of sharing the news with friends and family; Christmas present or a baby shower surprise are still in the running.  I compiled a few clips of the ultrasound to share.  It is amazing what technology can do!

Going back to Cali

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.

Wayne and I headed to Tahoe for the annual Malibu dealer meeting.  We stayed in Incline Village and had plenty to keep us busy.  Wayne had meetings during the day and we went to the evening functions together (and then Wayne got some good Casino time in after I checked out for the night).  I found a prenatal yoga class on Friday in nearby Truckee which was a treat.  We both agree that Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places on earth!

After leaving Tahoe we made a brief stop in Sacramento to visit Wayne's sisters, Kelly and Christy, as well as the nieces Stella, Vivi and Molly.  Molly is quite a character.  :-)

That same night we met up with friends for dinner.  Scott and Christy Lucia had us over for a wonderful dinner in their new home!  We realized that it had been over a year since we had last gotten together - how time flies.  Brad and Shonda, and their two adorable daughters, Addison and Kendall, joined us at the Lucia's.  Everyone had a great time catching up and generally hanging out.  The girls were very entertaining and surprisingly lasted way past their bedtime.  Kendall had this infectious smile and laugh that reminded me so much of Shonda...

Brad, Shonda, Kendall, Scott, Christy, and Julia at La Casa Lucia

Early the next morning I caught a flight to Los Angeles and Wayne stayed in Northern California and played a round of golf with Scott.  My friend Julie met me at the airport and we headed to Nina's house with Jamba Juice and Noah's Bagels.  Nina is nearing the end of her pregnacy...this was the last time I will see her before she has a baby!  I also got to stop by Rebecca and Chris's place and see baby Wyatt (4 weeks old).  He was SO precious!  We had dinner and "played" with the little guy - which means holding him and admiring how cute he is.  I am so lucky that it worked out that I got to visit with so many people.  Unfortunately there never seems to be enough time to see everyone.

On Monday I made it out to SMT to visit with my former co-workers and students.  It was shocking to see how grown up my last sixth grade class is now that they are eighth graders.  Wayne flew down to LA and we had dinner with Jamal and Julie and Wayne's parents.  We celebrated Jamal's and Marilyn's recent birthdays (14th and 19th, respectively) with a delicious cake from Torrance Bakery.  Yummm.  Early the next morning Wayne and I headed back home.

After a week away from home it was nice to be back.   Knoxville really does have its moments...

The sunset on our drive home...
the picture didn't capture the rays of light coming out from behind the clouds.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was fun in our new neighborhood.  We had plenty of trick-or-treaters and passed out 3 extra large Costco bags of candy and 40 full size Snickers bars (Wayne handed those out to the witty/best costumes of the evening).  We ended up sitting in lawn chairs on the front porch and greeted the kids as they walked up the driveway - this successfully avoided the barking of the dogs with every ring of the doorbell.  Wayne had fun playing with dry ice but ended up just having a very bubbly cauldron-like cooler of beer by the end of the night.  The dogs even participated in the fun!

LeRoy waiting for the trick-or-treaters

Guinness AKA Moosehead

This past week I had my first Centering Pregnancy group (this is a new format for prenatal care).  Basically for the rest of my pregnancy all my midwife appointments will be at the same time/day at regularly scheduled intervals.  For the first part of the appointment I have my usual check-up but following that I get together with the midwife and a group of women that are all due within the same 4 week time period.  It is great to interact with other women going through very similar experiences at the same time!  It also means that we get to spend over an hour meeting with the midwife.  I am the only first time mom in my group and I think I will gain a lot by being with other moms who have already gone through it.

More exciting news - I started going to a prenatal yoga class.  I am finally feeling like I have enough energy to work out and am loving how it makes me feel.  I guess baby likes it too!  Throughout the entire class the little guy/girl bounces around like crazy.  It literally starts at the beginning of class and stops with the relaxation/meditation at end of class.  Quite funny.

We are finally finishing up some of the home improvement projects that have been on our list since we moved to Knoxville.  The dining room got painted - no more dark eggplant!  Yea!  In addition, Wayne successfully put surround sound in the upstairs TV room.  This involved him running cords through the attic and threading wires between two sheets of drywall (very impressive!).  The goal was to be able to watch the MSU v Iowa game in surround sound but unfortunately we couldn't stand to watch the beating, so we turned on a movie instead.