Yippee!!

Aunt Kathy, Maggie & Baby James fly in to Spokane today!

They're coming here before we head to Grandview Thursday for BT's first baby shower. I CAN'T WAIT!! I'm excited to celebrate BT with family and friends.

I just love the time I get to spend with Maggie face-to-face and I'm anxious to see this precious lovie:

Little James has grown much since I last saw his sweet face! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Happy 31st, Justin!

Happy Birthday, Justin!!!

Today marks 31 years. From what we've heard, 31 should be one of your best years yet -- it's the year you become a papa! I like the coincidence of the fact you turn 31 years the same week BT turns 31 weeks!

If anything says "celebration," I think it's this picture. Thanks, Curtis, for expressing the right amount of excitement that should be expressed on a birthday!

Justin and Curtis, circa 1987. 

We celebrated Justin's birthday over the weekend. His parents and brother, Curtis, came to town, we ate out, we ate in, we ate rhubarb custard pie and frankfurter & bean supper dish, opened presents, went to a museum, watched The Avengers and enjoyed everyone's company. Thanks for coming to celebrate, Thompsons!

Couldn't have said it better

30 weeks

The official countdown is in the tens now, which is good because I'm certainly getting anxious to meet little BT!

Little one seems to have been growing its muscles quite well and is getting very good at kicking and rolling with force, not unlike the way its father sleeps. It also seems to have fashioned a shiv and is particularly fond of making a sort of slicing motion every couple days in the lower left corner of my uterus. Either that or BT has some long finger or toenails. It's always in the same spot and has been going on for at least a month...this week, however, more pressure has been applied along with the swiping motion and the sensation makes me yelp "ow!" in surprise.

Overall I'm still feeling well. BT did wiggle itself into a spot that pinched a nerve in my back earlier this week, but that didn't last long. Also, the hill outside our house seems to get steeper and steeper every day...must be those pesky tectonic plates on the move again. The increasing steepness of the hill doesn't pair well with the fact that I seem to be slipping into the foretold 3rd trimester energy slump. It's not as wickedly draining as the 1st trimester, but I'm sure moving slow these days; once 4 p.m. hits I'm about spent...no matter if I've done nothing all day or spent the afternoon being active. I've been quite thankful lately for the grocery store's selection of ready-to-eat roasted chicken!

Compare this pic to me in the same shirt at 23 weeks!

In other news, BT is excited to announce the arrival of its newest friend, Adalyn Grace! Adalyn was born this morning in Mountain View, Calif., to our friends Leigh Ann and Travis. She is a precious, long-awaited blessing and we're so happy she's here! 

Adalyn's arrival is the second on the monthly "baby train" back in California. Stephany was first, in April, with baby Megan. Next up, in June, is Amanda with baby Judah, and then...me! All the babies are about a month apart :) 

Speaking of baby Judah, I forgot to add this to my arts & crafts post: 

I got the idea from my friend Suz, a buddy I met in Oz, who had a baby in January. You can write anything you want on here, like baby's size and weight or that baby is "taking its first bath," etc., and prop it up next to baby for a documentation picture. 

Mother's Day 2012

Justin and I had an action-packed weekend, which all started with our first birthing classing from 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. Saturday.

Whoa.

Afterward we hopped in the car and raced to Grandview to attend a wedding reception.

Then dad and I jetted to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for our Mother's Day BBQ while Justin and mom went to the corner store to pick up some bevvies. 

We all made a mad dash home to unload groceries (and snap a few pretty pics in the yard) before we headed to Prosser to celebrate Nanny's 92nd birthday at El Caporal in Prosser.

The pink dogwood tree in my parents' yard has always been my favorite

Justin and me (and BT) where we said "I do"

We had a fun family dinner with Nanny. Of course the night ended with a sombrero and a round of Feliz Cumpleanos, accompanied by dessert on the house. 

The fam at dinner

Happy birthday, Nanny!

Back at home I started in on dessert for the next day's BBQ. It was a chocolate raspberry tart our friends John & Emily had once brought to our house. 

Chopping the chocolate for the ganache

I knew it would be something my mom would LOVE, so I dug up the recipe on John & Emily's blog. I even sought out a tart pan Friday specifically for this treat, which has a chocolatey crust and a chocolate ganache filling that's topped with raspberries. What's not to love?

After church Sunday, dad and I got the afternoon BBQ ready to go while mom putted around in the yard. We also enlisted Justin's help to run various errands, like pick up Nanny in Prosser, and also take over to put on a few finishing touches when my feet declared they'd simply been used enough that day. 

Steaks, grilled artichokes, corn, potatoes, Ina Garten's radishes with herbed butter toasts and more was served for lunch, while the tart brought up the rear. Thanks for sharing the tart with us in the first place, Emily! It was a hit!

Nanny liked it, as you can tell :) It was finger-lickin' good!

We hope everyone had a joyous Mother's Day weekend. I know I did...I got to spend it with my grandma and my mom! Justin even surprised me with a mom-to-be Mother's Day gift of beautiful necklaces, and Joe and Brianna gave me a sweet card and gift certificate. It made my heart happy. 

Fare thee well, Mazda 3

The Mazda 3 found a new home this morning.

We opted to sell the ol' ride as Justin's new position comes with a car.

The Mazda 3 was the first brand new car I ever purchased (and probably the last for a while) after I got my first "real job" in Seattle. Dad and mom helped me negotiate and work up the umph to buy the car (plus pops threw in a surprise and helped me with the down payment that day).

I remember it being one of the more mentally exhausting days of my life...I don't part easily with my cash. It makes my pit of coins too shallow for diving ;) just kidding. I'd never made such a purchase and monthly commitment before and had no idea what I was doing. It was good to have mom and dad by my side that day!

It's bittersweet to say goodbye to the Mazda 3. The car has seen Justin and me safely through many adventures, life in three different states (though two were the same), losses, wins, back roads, wrong turns, hours of traffic, late night Taco Bell runs, heart-to-heart talks and more. It was also where I preformed my best solos, passed time anxiously driving from Seattle to Aberdeen to visit Justin when he was just my boyfriend and first learned that AM radio wasn't just for old people (or does that mean I'm getting old?).

Before she made the transition this morning, the Mazda 3 sent me a goodbye email and one last beauty shot:

Bye Christine,  you were very nice to me.  I know [new owner] likes me a lot. She had my cousin who was painted black - rest his soul.  I know she will be nice to me.  Her Dad likes me too.  Maybe we'll see each other on the road someday.  I still remember the day you drove me off the lot...best day of my life.  Thank Justin for getting me out of California.  Bye Bye, love you.

Lastly, but certainly not least, a special THANK YOU goes again to my dad and mom. It was they who helped us house and advertise the sale of the car after it arrived in Washington. The Mazda 3 never made it to Spokane...we had it shipped to their house from California. Dad popped a for sale sign in the window, mom and dad each drove it to work every now and then and today dad facilitated the sale. We couldn't have done it without you two. THANK YOU!!

Bye bye, Mazda 3. We love you too!

Baby Shower Time!

Such a sweet invite! BT and I are honored, ladies :)

Week 27 (and a half)

3rd trimester!

all washed, dried, re-tied to fit the crib slats and ready to go!

view 2

Me-oh-my, BT is getting big :) and it's time to retire this shirt.

Sewy McSewerson

Remember that sewing machine I received for my birthday? The one I said I'd use to monogram all of JT undies while he was at work? Well, I finally got it out of the box a few weeks ago...

Shortly after birthday time and a wicked round of the flu, I found myself with no energy. I didn't even have the energy to move said sewing machine from behind the couch to the spare room in our old place. Most of my birthday goodies sat in limbo next to our china hutch until Christmas. I found out later that was because I was building a placenta (sorry to say placenta) and a baby.

That takes an unexpected amount of energy!

Now that my energy is back, and also knowing that BT's due date is closer now than it is further away, I got started on a few projects I've had in mind, like curtains:

I also made a matching mom & daughter set of aprons for my friend Leigh Ann's baby shower:

I had to get these puppies in the mail as soon as they were done, so I didn't get a chance to take a pic of them together. Just imagine another one like this, only itty bitty. I traced a set of aprons my mom had for the two of us when I was little :)

Next up: recovering the bumpers and making a mattress cover for the baby bassinet. My dad made a bassinet for me (well, my brothers too, but I was first so really...it was for me) and they're going to let us borrow it for BT!