18 Weeks

Today we are 18 weeks pregnant! 

Yippee!

We are very excited for the next 15 days to go by because our anatomy scan is on 11/14 and we get to see our little one again! Fingers crossed for everything to be perfectly healthy and to be able to find out whether we are having a little boy or a little girl!

Week 18

Baby This Week: Baby is about the size of a sweet potato. Measuring about 6 inches from head to rump and weighing about 6 ounces. 

What I am Feeling: I started feeling baby move more often last week. Now if I am sitting at my computer, in a meeting, or at dinner (s)he tip taps all over the place. It is usually if I am sitting forward a little that I feel it the most.  

Milestones This Week: I actually had a few! 

1) I got the call that I passed my gestational diabetes test! Because I am overweight and have PCOS, they asked me to do at 17 weeks and then again later in pregnancy. Normal is between 65 and 135 and I was at 115! 

2) Our sequential screens came back later this week and everything came within normal range! Yay! 

3) Starting to put together our "things to do" list and realizing that within the next few weeks we will be able to start registering and preparing for our baby!

I am feeling like it is getting more and more real by the day.  Being pregnant after a loss is ridiculously scary, but starting to feel some movement makes me feel better. I love the little reminders that (s)he is in there safe and sound.

Miscellany: As of now I have only gained one pound. I am all belly but am eating "ok". I had a hard time eating fruits and veggies at the begging because they would make me feel sick. I am loving salads the most at this point and am just trying to remember to keep eating fruits now too. 

I recently bought a snoogle pillow and I am loving it. I honestly couldn't sleep without it! Guiness is also a really big fan of the pillow:

(it's under the comforter but you can see where he is sleeping in the area I would normally put my legs)

Last weekend Rob and I went to a Jets game with my family. We aren't big football followers but I went to Penn State and absolutely love love love tailgating and football so we had a good time. The only thing I realized is that walking to the stadium, sitting in tiny uncomfortable seats, and walking all the way back to the car was EXHAUSTING. I won't be going to anything like that for awhile. 

(Here we are at the game!)

Hope everyone is doing well! XoxoX

Super Mario Party

I honestly cannot believe how long it has been since I posted. I am SO sorry to all of you readers out there.

Things have been absolutely crazy around here.

We have been trying desperately to do some work around the house and I have been having some random health things going on that needed a little attention

(don't worry - I am ok).

So I wanted to tell you all about my Sister-In-Law's absolutely amazing 25th Birthday Party. She is a lover of Super Mario Kart and decided that she wanted to have a Super Mario Kart themed party. 

My Father-In-Law started only mowing where the obstacle course would be. Everyone had to bring a Kart of some sort, and everyone had to come in costume. Rob and I supplied the cake as Christiane's Birthday present which was OF COURSE decorated by Cinderellie's Sweets! 

Here are the pictures and a video at the end. I completely forgot my camera so all were taken with my iPhone (sorry!)!

The amazingly fab Birthday Cake!

Rob and I were Mario and Luigi and Guiness was Yoshi! Rob and I made the costume with felt, thread and velcro. It came out really cute and he basically just chilled all afternoon.

My lovely little family!

<3Love

Rob was getting ready for the party and wanted to check out the obstacle course on his Sister's bike. Guiness was chasing him the entire way around :) 

I promise I will be back sooner rather than later. XoxoX.

Farmers Market Love

I feel like I have mentioned the Farmer's Market in previous posts but never officially wrote a post about my area Farmer's Market. 

Now - the Farmer's Market doesn't know that I am writing about it and I would rather not tell the entire world wide web exactly where I live (wink) so I am sorry - but I am just going to have to tell you that it is in your BEST interest to find your area Farmer's Market and utilize it as MUCH as possible. 

We love this Farmer's Market. It is a part of our weekend routine because it gives us the opportunity to purchase sooo many fruits and veggies (and more) with such little money! 

Hubs is my list*holder while I bag! We love this shelf of spices! Less than $3 for each of these HUGE bottles! We bought Cayenne Pepper for Chicken with Avocado Lime Salsa (will post that recipe later this week)! 

Had to add a little loving in here! He was sleeping when we came home and then started whining while I set up for the picture below. He just wanted hugs!

So we normally spend less than $40 at the Farmers Market but this week they had Coconut Milk, Almond Milk and Chicken Broth! Normally these each cost more than $4 at the Grocery store but instead we got these for $2.99 each. 

I adore this Farmer's Market. It's open year round and it helps me to be so much healthier. After we stop at the Farmer's Market and buy our fruits and veggies, we drive across the street (yes, directly across the street) to the Grocery Store and get our meats! It's the best $$ saver ever!

Ok - Plug over! I promise that Farmer's Markets across the world have no idea I am writing this (wink). I just really really love my area Farmer's Market!

July 4th Weekend

We had an absolutely fantastic weekend! 

Friday afternoon we left to go camping with some dear friends. I have loads of pictures to share with you!

We actually camped Friday night and Saturday night with a HUGE storm that came through Saturday night. The entire tent got SOAKED inside and out. So waking up Sunday morning was less than lovely and required a quick clean up considering that there was more rain still coming! (ick)

Here are pictures of the good friends, food and times we had!

Eric our Camping Chef!

I <3 those eyes {and him of course}

The guys doing the cooking.

Rob was making his pizza and five-starred my butt with flour!!!

Ellie with our Kabobs!

mmm mmm Good

I look like a mess (that's what no shower in 2 days does to you!)

Garrett's side eye!

We also played a little with my camwow Application! Hahaha. Pretty in pink.

So after we left our amazing camping adventure (we have actually done this for the past ten years except for one year that we missed), we went out to breakfast and said our goodbyes. It was sooo great to see everyone! 

Sunday night when we went to my parents house to pick up my beautiful puppy dog and visit with them.  My dad and sister just returned home from being in Austria for a week. My sister is an amazing Opera singer who was in a competition in Vienna for the week. Unfortunately she did not win, but she's amazing anyway! <3

Then on Monday we spent the fourth of July with my in-loves! Spent the afternoon at the pool with the puppies, had an amazing dinner together, and then enjoyed some fireworks! Here are some pictures from    the fourth of July!

Beautiful NJ Sunset!

Kevin & Freddy!

Guiness' haircut!

Diana and Oscar!

Sunset via instagram (follow me - I'm @ jdarby23)

Gloria and Freddy!

Beautiful!

Rob and his Dad setting 'em off!

I hope everyone had a beautiful and safe fourth of July! I certainly did!