freezer meal: baked ziti

one of the pieces of advice i followed when nearing the end of my pregnancy was to stock up on freezer meals, and i'm so glad i did! in hindsight, i wish i would've done even more. thankfully we have a wonderful group of friends and family who brought us food in the 2 weeks after ellie was born, but eventually the food stops coming and you have to figure out how to feed yourself again. :) freezer meals to the rescue!

this was one of our favorites and can actually make 3 pan instead of just 2 like the recipe calls for, it's so easily customizable with whatever vegetables or meats you want. this is the base recipe that you can add to.

[modified recipe courtesy of sixsistersstuff.com]

• 1 pound whole wheat ziti (or any short pasta)
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 pound ground beef, turkey, or chicken
• 2 jars spaghetti sauce
• 8 slices provolone cheese
• 1.5 cups lite sour cream or greek yogurt
• 6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

1. cook pasta according to package directions.

2. in a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef and drain. add spaghetti sauce and simmer 15 minutes.

3. spray 8x8" pans with cooking spray, and layer ingredients as follows: 1/4 of the pasta, 1/4 of the sauce, 4 slices of provolone, 1/2 of the sour cream, 1/4 of the pasta, 1/4 of the mozzarella, and 1/4 of the sauce. top with remaining mozzarella (and parmesan, if you want!)

4. either bake immediately at 350 for 30 minutes, or cover and freeze. when you're ready to eat the frozen meal, let it thaw in the fridge for 24-36 hours before baking at 350 for 30 minutes.

love this site for freezer meals! 

enjoy!!

ellie's birth story

i've been going back and forth about whether to blog ellie's birth story. there are lots of details that i will keep private (just because, honestly, no one needs to know some of that stuff!), but several people have asked me about it, and i would like to keep it for my own memory's sake, so here goes!

my due date was saturday, october 18th. i had a doctor's appointment that week, where she confirmed that we were making some progress toward labor. she reminded me that all of the measurements and things that she took at my appointments were pretty arbitrary. some people can appear very progressed, then stay the same for weeks, and some people can go from 0 to baby in a matter of hours, so i tried to take it all with a grain of salt. since my due date was about to pass, we did discuss the possibility of induction and threw a few dates around, but didn't set anything in stone just yet.

my parents were in town the weekend of the 18th just in case i went into labor, and we spent the day of my due date with them, my brother, and his fiance tooling around town. i went to bed that night feeling no different than i did the day before, so i tried to make peace with the fact that little ellie baby was going to be late, and i'd just have to be patient and wait on her to be ready!

my parents decided to leave our house and go up to the mountains for a few days since "a watched pot never boils". we had another doctor's appointment on monday the 20th, where we discussed induction again. it was then when our doctor told us that our hospital really didn't allow inductions before 41 weeks unless medically necessary, but she would try to get us worked in for later that week anyway. i was reallllly ready to meet ellie, so i was jumping at the chance to get something scheduled. at that point in pregnancy, it helps so much to have an end date to look forward to!

anyway, i was still progressing (rather slowly) at that appointment, so things were looking good, but not looking like we'd have a baby at any moment like i'd hoped. i was working from home that week, so i spent monday afternoon at home waiting! later that day i got a phone call from my doctor, saying that the hospital had allowed her to schedule an induction for me on thursday. i was pretty relieved about that, so after calling michael to make sure that was okay with him, i agreed to the induction date.

we pretty much set our minds to the fact that were going to be having this baby on thursday, october 23rd, and prepared accordingly. the families were updated and we made plans as best we could, without really knowing what to expect.

the next day, tuesday the 21st, i decided to go to the mall to walk around a bit, my last-ditch effort to get ellie to come into the world on her own. i started feeling some fairly mild and somewhat-regular contractions during that time, so i went home and anxiously waited on michael to get there. the contractions got consistently stronger throughout the early evening, to the point that we realized this was the beginning of actual labor. we ordered chili's takeout (which we have never done before, so weird) and ate burgers at home while talking about what was about to happen. what a surreal night that was for us!

after dinner, things started to speed up, and by 10:00 my contractions were 5 minutes apart and starting to be fairly painful. we called the doctor and decided to make our way to the hospital. this is one of the parts i remember the most-michael walking around the house gathering our stuff saying "wow, this is really happening" over and over. he packed the car, talked to our neighbor about dropping the dogs off at the kennel, and called our families. once we got the hospital, we had to go in through the emergency room since it was late at night. they got me checked into triage, where they found that i was, in fact, in early labor, but not quite ready to have a baby just yet. they sent us home at about midnight, which was pretty disappointing, but i'm very thankful for it now! i wanted to labor at home for as long as possible, so those extra hours at home, while sort of miserable, were really a blessing.

my parents left their house when michael called them, so they got to our house sometime that early morning. they were still driving when we left the hospital to go back home.

we got home at about 12:30 and i slept for maybe an hour before waking up with really intense contractions. each one was more painful than the last, and i ended up on the floor with a mountain of pillows trying to breathe through them as long as i could. michael held my hand through each one, and we stayed that way for a few hours. yall...talk about rough. it was a different kind of pain than i've ever felt in my life! when i didn't think i could take it anymore, we decided to go back to the hospital. i woke up my parents to let them know what was up, then headed back to the emergency room. [by the way, having contractions while seated in a car buckled in with a seat belt is quite possibly the worst thing ever.] this time, the triage nurse found that i was definitely ready to be checked in! i think it was around 5 am wednesday morning when we were taken to a labor & delivery room.

[side note: i absolutely loved our hospital (cmc main in uptown charlotte)! the room i delivered in was huge and really comfortable. our nurses were awesome and kept us entertained the whole time.]

once we were in our room, we ordered the epidural, which took a little while to get to us. that was actually way less scary than i thought it would be. it didn't hurt at all; i just felt some pressure. i was in some intense pain before i got the epidural, but as soon as it was administered i felt like a new person! i went into the whole experience open-minded about medicated vs. unmedicated, and i'm very proud of myself that i made it as long as i did, but in the end the epidural was the right choice for me. i was happy as a clam and kept telling michael that he should "get some of this, baby!"

we watched tv for awhile, and my family came in to keep us company. that time passed really quickly, and before i knew it the doctor told me i was ready to push. she had several patients delivering babies at the same time that day, so i would push for awhile, then she would leave to check on someone else, and it kind of continued on that way for awhile.

we had some issues with the epidural during the initial pushing phase. i was feeling some pretty bad pain on one side, so the nurses called the anesthesiologist back in to give me a different type of medication. it wasn't 20 minutes later that the doctor came in to have me push, when we realized i couldn't really feel much of anything due to that last dose of medication. apparently the doctor and nurses hadn't communicated very well on that, so there was a little confusion. the medication was slowing my contractions down, so they got me started on pitocin to get those going again. it all worked out in the end, but i know now to make sure my doctor and nurses are on the same page regarding medication next time!

pushing was hard and tiring, but it went by really fast! i think i pushed for about an hour and 20 minutes total, but it didn't feel that long at all. that also included a few breaks when my doctor went to check on her other patients. ellie was a decent-sized baby, so she took a bit of convincing to come out. :)

michael was the best coach ever and was right there with me the whole time. he was the only person in the room with me, other than the hospital staff, and i tried to keep my attention on him as much as i could. it was a crazy experience, but we had so much fun that day!

ellie charlotte was born at 2:15 pm on wednesday, october 22nd, 2014. they put her on my chest immediately, and i was so overwhelmed with relief and happiness and a million other emotions that i can't even begin to describe. i was also really shocked at her full head of black hair! her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck once, but thankfully that didn't cause any issues. they let her stay with me for a few minutes before cleaning her up and taking all of her measurements. she was 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 21 inches long-my healthy girl! michael cut the cord, which was a hilarious experience, and our families came in shortly after.

i nursed her within the first few minutes of her birth, which luckily was very easy and went really well. i could tell she was going to be a big eater right off the bat!

we were transferred to a recovery room an hour or 2 later, which was a lot smaller than the l&d room, but still very comfortable. ellie was in a bassinet by my bed the whole time we were in the hospital. they did all of her measurements, blood drawings, etc. in our room so we weren't ever separated, which i really appreciated.

we spent the next day and a half or so visiting with friends and family, walking laps to start my recovery process, and looking at our sweet baby. our nurses were wonderful and taught us so much about how to care for our new addition. we loved them all so much!

we left the hospital right after lunchtime on friday, october 24th. putting ellie in her car seat and driving her home was such a nerve-wrecking experience. i'm glad michael was in the driver's seat and not me! we got her all buckled in, said a prayer, and took off for home. introducing her to the dogs was a really sweet moment, and they did so well sniffing and nuzzling their new baby sister.

i have to say, the physical recovery was a lot more difficult than i imagined it would be. i wasn't really prepared for that part of it. it was certainly manageable, and i had a lot of help from michael and my mom, but it was pretty hard to make sure i took care of myself while also figuring out how to take care of a newborn.

now that ellie is here and is almost 3 months old, it's sort of hard to remember what my expectations of giving birth were. whatever they were, i can guarantee you that thinking about it and actually doing it are 2 very different things. it's something that you can't really imagine until you go through it yourself. i am so thankful for the world's best husband, supportive family, thoughtful friends, capable doctors and nurses, and the fact that God saw fit to bless michael and me with the most perfect daughter i could have ever dreamed of.

"lightened up" loaded potato soup

happy new year!!

while i'm not a huge fan of january or february and the cold that they bring, i am a huge fan of simple soup recipes. there is no better time of year than now to make big batches of soup!

soup can really be at either end of the health spectrum. there are broth-based, veggie-filled, good-for-you varieties, and there are some that are loaded with cream and calories. this recipe from southern living (my favorite magazine) is a great compromise for when you want one of those hearty, creamy soups without the caloric load.

you will need:

• 4 red potatoes
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 1/4 cups low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 cups milk (recipe called for 1% but i used skim with no problem!)
• 1/4 cup lite sour cream (can also replace with greek yogurt)
• salt & pepper
• bacon and cheese for topping, if desired

1. pierce potatoes with a fork, and microwave on high for 13 minutes. let cool.

2. saute onion in oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. add broth. combine flour and 1/2 cup milk and add to the pan. then add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk. 

3. bring to a boil, stirring often. boil for 1 minute. 

4. remove from heat and stir in sour cream, salt and pepper.

5. discard potato skins and coarsely mash into the soup. top with cheese and bacon.

this recipe makes 4 servings, and each only has 325 calories-not bad for a loaded potato soup!

here's how mine turned out...so good with a grilled cheese sandwich!

enjoy!

newborn must-haves

when doing my baby registry for ellie, i found it really helpful when bloggers made lists of their must-have items for different age ranges. i have pretty strong opinions on what i like and don't like at this point, so maybe this will be helpful for someone too!

diaper genie

oldie but a goodie. we have a large one upstairs beside ellie's changing table in her nursery and a small one downstairs in the living room so we don't have to go up and down the stairs for diaper changes. they work like charms and we love them! 

adan & anais easy swaddle

when we first brought ellie home from the hospital, and in the first 3 weeks or so, she slept on her back, and this swaddle was instrumental in keeping her asleep. babies look like they're falling when they startle themselves awake, so keeping her arms wrapped up but her hands still free by her face was perfect for her. we preferred this swaddle to the others we tried (including the sleep sack). no particular reasons why, it was just really easy, light, and cute. :) 

and if you're wondering, yes, ellie now sleeps on her belly. we know it's not recommended, but she much prefers it and sleeps much more peacefully that way. she has had excellent head and neck control since early on, so we really don't worry about her on her belly. not to mention, michael and i were both put on our bellies as babies, so it's not something that we're very scared of. [go ahead and call dss on me if you wish, but i'm not interesting in a belly vs. back sleeping debate! :) ]

old navy footed sleepers

i think everyone knows that footed sleepers are a baby must-have, but old navy's are my favorites. they're really soft, plenty long (which is important for our lengthy girl), and very cute! they also have fleece sleepers for colder weather, which we have a couple of, but we generally stick to cotton. it's easy for ellie to get hot while she sleeps, and she seems very comfortable in the cotton version.

medela pump in style advanced

for any breastfeeding mom, i think a pump is a must. i knew i would be going back to work after 6-7 weeks, so i started pumping when she was 2 weeks old to start building up a stockpile for whenever we need it. i also pump at least 3 times a day at work to generate her food for the next day. this pump has worked really well for me and was fully covered by insurance, which was great! it's an electric double pump that's very easy to use and to clean. it comes with a cooler that fits 2 bottles, which is perfect for work days. 

[as i said in my last post, we also supplement with formula if and when we need to. i think formula is a wonderful thing that can and should be used for either convenience and/or necessity. thankfully i've had an overall wonderful experience with breastfeeding, but i know that varies greatly from person to person, and i think the fact that your baby is being fed is the important thing!]

medela quick clean micro-steam bags

these bags are great for quickly sterilizing bottles, pump parts, pacifiers, etc. it's not my general rule to sterilize everything all the time, but ellie had a minor bout of thrush when she was about 4 weeks old, so we had to sterilize all of her stuff during that time and kind of got in the habit of doing it at the end of each day. if you do sterilize, these bags are super easy and you get 20 uses out of each one. they last longer than you might think!

brica baby in-sight mega mirror

this is the mirror that we chose for our cars, but really any car mirror should be on a mom-to-be's list. i don't know what i would do if i couldn't see ellie in her backward-facing carseat while i'm driving. it's a lifesaver for getting her pacifier back in her mouth when she's fussy!

boppy nursing cover

i don't nurse in public often, just as a personal preference, but if i do, this cover is a lifesaver. it's cute and easy to use, and it's not bulky at all, so it folds up really small in my diaper bag. this was also really handy in the days at home right after ellie was born. we had lots of visitors, and i wanted to feed her myself at every feeding during those early days, so this allowed me to visit while feeding.

avent natural flow bottles

i picked these bottles as the ones i would use fairly randomly. i didn't want the hassle of cleaning the trendy dr. brown's bottles, and i read lots of good reviews on the avent natural flows. thankfully ellie likes them a lot and has no problem going back and forth between me and the bottle. [to be honest, i also just really like the way they look!]

4moms mamaroo infant seat

ohhh the mamaroo. this is the piece of baby gear that we were most excited about getting, and we still love it. it looks cool in our living room (obviously important), and ellie really likes it. she napped in it a little when she was brand-new, but now we mostly use it during her "awake time" if we need to be doing something else, like eating or laundry or letting the dogs out or whatever. all of the settings are awesome, and even if she doesn't really care how she rocks or what sound she listens to, i enjoy choosing between kangaroo and car ride just depending on my mood. it's a seat for babies and a toy for adults! win-win.

mam pacifiers

we gave ellie her first paci about a week and a half after she was born. we've tried several kinds since then, and mams are our favorites. we started off with soothies since that's what seems to be most recommended by doctors and hospitals, but we switched from them fairly soon for a few reasons. one, ellie started sleeping on her belly more often, and the soothies are kind of huge on the outside of the mouth. it wasn't very comfortable for her. also, those things are ugly. i hated taking pictures of ellie with a soothie in her mouth! finally, the part that goes in the baby's mouth is really small and after awhile it didn't seem like it was doing much of anything for her. the mams are kind of perfect. they're a good size, she can fall asleep on her belly with them, they work well with paci clips, and they're cute!

aden and anais swaddle blankets

these are the best multi-purpose blankets out there. we use them for everything!

aden and anais burpy bibs

[can you tell at this point that i pretty much love everything aden and anais? i seriously love it all]

these are really handy because they're combination burp cloths and bibs. they're a little pricier than your standard burp cloth or bib, but i think they're worth it. we have 3 at home, and they get used allll the time. i also always have one in my diaper bag. 

graco sweet slumber sound machine

this sound machine helps us to keep a consistent nap/bed time routine. we go in ellie's room, turn the lights off, and turn her sound machine (with nightlight) on. i really think she associates the noise with sleep time, so it's one of her cues that it's time for bed. there are lots of sound machines out there, but i especially like this one because it's really small and fits in to our nursery well.

pacifier clips

i didn't really think i'd be a fan of paci clips. honestly, i always thought of them in the same category as kid leashes for some reason. that bias quickly disappeared once we started taking ellie out to public places, or letting people hold her, at which point her paci inevitably falls out and on the floor. at home we don't care as much and will usually just wipe it off and give it back to her, but in public that's just nasty. these clips come in handy! i don't like just any clip though. the ones we initially bought at target were not the cutest things in the world and the clips were really tough to open and close. i always felt like i was going to hit ellie in the face taking the clip off! i found my favorites on etsy, at the myhandmadeloves shop. the clips are study, but not tough, and the patterns are SO cute!

safety first sound moments audio monitor

of course every family with a new baby needs a monitor, and this is just the one we chose. it's nice because there's one base to keep in the nursery and 2 receivers to keep elsewhere. we have one in our room for nighttime and one downstairs for when we're in the living room. we opted not to get a monitor system that included video because the security system in our house has a video monitor that we rarely use, so we mounted that in the nursery instead. i actually prefer that, because we can check it on our phones instead of just at 1 of the 2 receivers. regardless, a monitor of some sort is a necessity.

skiphop duo diaper bag - herringbone

i can't say enough good things about this diaper bag! it's got plenty of pockets, includes a portable changing pad, and has 2 handle options. i am also in love with the herringbone pattern. i will probably still use it even when i don't have a need for a diaper bag anymore!

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there they are-all the things i wouldn't want to live without while tackling life with a newborn! [not listed: pampers, common sense, and endless patience]

back in action! [life with a newborn]

it feels good to be back!

i've taken a few months off of blogging while settling into life with our new addition, but now that i'm back to work and the holidays are behind us, it's time to catch up.

in case any of you missed it (which i seriously doubt you did, considering i'm probably friends on instagram or facebook with anyone who reads this blog), our sweet girl ellie charlotte was born on october 22nd at 2:15 pm. she was 8 pounds 4 ounces and 21 inches long. she's the sweetest, best baby in the world and her daddy and i are so in love!

the first picture i took of her. this was in the hospital the day she was born

happy Christmas baby!

i was with ellie 24/7 the first 7 weeks of her life, and i have to tell yall-it was harder than i expected! the first 4 weeks were especially difficult, trying to get her on a schedule, figuring out her different cries, and braving my first solo outings with her in public (not to mention my own healing process and getting back in my skinny jeans!) unlike many newborns i hear about, my baby girl was not a big napper. everyone says that newborns will just sleep all day and you'll have to try to wake them up...ummmm not mine! she has been super-alert from day one. it took me a little while to learn her sleepy cues and figure out the best way to put her down for naps. once all that got worked out, the last few weeks of my maternity leave were much easier!

having a baby has been a huge lesson in patience and going-with-the-flow for me. anyone who knows me knows that i'm always busy, can't relax without knowing everything is in order and checked off my to-do list, and once i have a schedule, i want to stick to it. having a baby throws that out the window, for the first few weeks at least. thankfully ellie did adapt to a schedule really quickly, and has always been a great sleeper at night, which made things pretty easy for us!

as for her schedule, we generally follow the babywise method. we focus mostly on the babywise recommendation of eat-wake-sleep, so ellie isn't ever fed to sleep (except at her bedtime feeding, when we put her straight to bed afterward). she eats every 3 hours, and eats like a champ! right now she weighs about 13 pounds and is maxing out her 3-6 month sleepers in length. she was back up to her birth weight before her first doctor's appointment...show-off! :) she's finishing up her last box of size 1 diapers and wears size 2 at night (which i think has been a big help in getting her to sleep all night). speaking of, she's slept through the night 3 times so far, 2 of which being last night and the night before, so hopefully she will keep that up!

ellie's favorite place to nap is still on her daddy's chest, but she sleeps in her crib 90% of the time. we had her in her crib in her own room from the first night we brought her home. i know that's hard for a lot of people, but it made it so much easier on us to not have to make the transition from our room to hers at any point-she was just there from the beginning. of course the first few nights it was hard to fall asleep without constantly checking the video monitor, but eventually my paranoia went away and we have all been happy in our own rooms!

thankfully i've had lots of luck with breastfeeding, and we really only supplement with formula when we're out and it's not convenient to feed her myself, and at night when we make her last bottle half breastmilk and half formula (in an attempt to keep her full a little longer, since formula takes longer to digest). i pump at least 3 times a day at work now, but if i have to skip for any reason, we'll supplement with formula when we need to. she happily eats any kind of formula we've given her and will take a bottle at any temperature, which is really nice. i also credit breastfeeding with me being back at my pre-pregnancy weight and in my regular clothes at 3 weeks postpartum. i really wasn't doing any other form of exercise at that point, so i can't take any credit on my own!

as for ellie's daily life now, michael is at home with her until he goes back to school on the 7th, so he hangs out with her all day and takes her on his daddy errands. they are having such a good time together! when he goes back to school, ellie's grandmas will be helping out, watching her for a month or 2 until i'm able to bring her to work with me. my company is graciously providing a space for employees to bring their kids under 5 to work, so she'll be coming along with me at the end of february/early march. i can't wait!

the highlights of my work days are getting ellie out of her crib in the mornings, usually happy and smiling already, and rocking her to sleep at night. weekends are full of cuddles and play time. she is such a smiley, happy baby who sucks her thumb to put herself to sleep and is learning to hold on to her rattles. she loves bath time and has crazy long hair that isn't showing any signs of falling out so far. she plays on her activity mat, loves listening to music, and holds her head up well enough to sit in her bumbo seat for a few minutes at a time. she is the greatest blessing of our life and i am forever thankful that she is mine.

[my next post will be a list of all of the newborn must-haves that i couldn't have lived without during these past 2 months! stay tuned.]

sooo we're having a baby next month...

i can't believe september is here! i've been saying for awhile how crazy it will be when we can say "we're having a baby next month" and now we can. mind blown.

i've been a terrible, irregular blogger lately because there is literally nothing for me to blog about other than baby stuff. even i get bored of talking about baby stuff all the time, so i assume everyone else does too. i've spared you for a few weeks, so here's what's going on with ellie baby!

we got SO much done this weekend and are ready for her to show up whenever she decides! i've had 2 showers in the past couple of weeks and got so much awesome stuff, including some very useful and much appreciated gift cards. we put those to use this weekend by hitting up babies r us one last time, getting some major deals at target.com, and, most importantly, exchanging some things at belk to then buy ellie's halloween costume. she's going to be a goldfish. :)

in other news, i reached major beach ball status this week. here's the proof:

isn't that shirt the most perfect beach ball shirt ever? i figured i should wear it on labor day weekend since it's really not so apropos from here on out. although, considering we're still having 95 degree days, i guess i can wear whatever the heck i want!

overall, i'm still feeling really good, trying to eat well, and exercising 4-5 days a week. hoping i can keep that up for a few more weeks! i am definitely more uncomfortable than i've been...well, ever... but it's motivating to be in the home stretch! it's pretty difficult to get comfortable when i'm sitting on the couch watching tv or wearing anything other than yoga pants, but working out and stretching is still helping so much!

i think i'm craving things more now than i have for the past several months combined. i could drink sweet tea and eat crushed ice all day long every day, but my new rule is to limit the drive-thru teas to a once-a-week treat only. we'll see how that goes... i've also been eating oreos with michael, which i just don't ever normally do. i think i want the oreos so badly because we always have them with a big glass of cold milk, which i've been drinking like a champ. maybe dairy is just where it's at for me these days, because ice cream is also a constant craving!

in the "normal" food department, we've really just been rotating lots of our favorite recipes lately to keep things simple. michael is busy with school, i'm busy with work, and we're both busy with the dogs, the house, the yard, and the baby preparations, so nothing shockingly new has made its way into the dinner rotation recently. i am trying to make one freezer meal each week to stock our freezer with food for when ellie is here and neither one of us feels like cooking. i've got 2 in the bank so far: black bean taco soup and chicken parmesan meatloaf. check those sites out if you want to try freezer meals-they've got some great recipes!

don't expect much more out of me in the next month or 2, as i'm expecting things to stay about the same around the segura household. we're not traveling any more and we're trying to enjoy the last of our time as a family of 4, so there won't be much news to tell! of course we will let the world know when miss ellie arrives, and if i happen to come across any ground-breaking recipes or online shopping deals in the meantime i'll share the goods. :)

whirlwind of a week

happy friday everyone!

this week has been a total whirlwind, and i can't believe it's already over! (although i'm very, very happy it's the weekend!) tomorrow will mark 31 weeks of pregnancy-crazy to think we'll have a baby with us in 9 short weeks!

some highlights of the week:

• monday we dropped our pups off at their new doggie daycare/boarding kennel for a trial run, and they passed with flying colors! we're going to my parents' house next weekend for my baby shower, and we really didn't want to drag the dogs along this time, so we found them a fun new place to stay while we're gone. they'll sleep and eat together, but they each have their own play group twice a day with their own size dogs.
  
  the kennel (meadows bed & biscuit in huntersville) has webcams where you can watch your dogs during play groups. i watched loki and kona on monday, and it was so funny! loki is a mini socialite and just follows the humans around waiting for some attention. kona was a big floppy ball of happiness and ran circles all day long. he also went swimming in the doggie pool, which is a big deal for him! he's been swimming a couple of times, but he's pretty reluctant, so we think the "peer pressure" of the other dogs swimming got him in there.
  
  anyway, i'm so happy they had a good time and we have a safe and fun place to leave them when we need a weekend away!
  
  [our sweet neighbors mike and tami also had their baby girl on monday. welcome to the world sophia, can't wait to meet you!]
  
  
• wednesday i worked from home, which was a nice change of pace since i'm pretty much at my desk all day every day right now. we had a couple of appointments to go to, and that night we met our photographer at latta plantation park for our maternity photos! here's the link to the sneak peek: http://chelseahomesley.com/?p=14475
  
  
  i highly recommend chelsea for anyone looking for a family photographer in the lake norman area! i hadn't met her until wednesday, just emailed, but she is so sweet, creative, accomodating, and fast! we took the pictures on wednesday and we got our sneak peek link a day later! we should get all of the shots on a cd in the mail in a week or 2. i can't wait to see what chelsea does with ellie's newborn, 6 month, and 1 year pictures (which yes, we already booked, and i'm thrilled about. planner at heart!)

  
  

  a couple of favorites:
  
  

  

  love that man!

  
  
  
  
  
• last night we went to the onerepublic and the script concert with our friends brad & stacy. while i know a lot of the songs those bands sing, it's not my typical kind of concert to go to, but i really enjoyed it! of course i'm a bit of a party pooper right now and had to make an exit around 10:30, but i had so much fun! thanks again yall for the invite :)
  
  
  
  
  we have a fun and relaxing weekend planned, and i'm excited to spend more alone time with my man before ellie arrives! the weekends are getting more and more precious as time goes on, so i'm trying to savor them as much as i can.  hope yall have a great one!