We went to the doctor’s today for our 36 week check-up! Below is the summary of our progress:
Gestational Age: 36w 1d
Baby’s position: Head down and he’s dropped!
Effacement: 50%
Dilation: Nothin’ yet
Station: -2
Making Progress!
Feb 11
36 Weeks!
Feb 10
This is going to be a shorty blog entry. I’m officially 36 weeks pregnant today! It’s hard to believe but by the time we get to next Wednesday, I will be considered full term regarding my pregnancy. Liam could come any day now! Wowza! I’m so thankful for having the blessing of such an easy and enjoyable pregnancy. Of course I’m feeling those third trimester woes, but it’s all worth it.
Tomorrow, we go in for my 36 week check up. Hopefully, I’ll update soon afterwards to give the update on my progress, if any! Happy Wednesday!
33 weeks down!
Jan 21
So, my standing bow looks a little different these days. My balance is waaaay off as a prego lady so I can’t kick my leg as high as I used to. Well, I could for about a millisecond.. right before tumbling face belly first into the ground.
Wow! It’s been quite a while since I last posted. Ugh! I don’t have an excuse, so I’m just going to move on.
A lot has happened over the last 11ish weeks. I had a baby shower up in Western NY, we went to Disney World with the in-laws (the ‘rents, sister, brother, and nephew), had our Asheville co-ed baby shower, and finished the nursery.
We’re in the home stretch now. I’m feeling good, in general. I am slowing down and experiencing the normal third trimester pregnancy ailments: fatigue, “out-of-breathness”, numb limbs, back pain, interrupted sleep, and going to the bathroom every other minute. So, really, my “feeling good” is a state of mind because my body is certainly not comfortable!
I find all of it TOTALLY worth it. I’m growing a little human being.. I don’t think it’s supposed to be the easiest thing in the world. 
..and in the end, I get my baby!
Liam definitely moves around a lot. You can now see him move around from the outside. It’s pretty neat and strange all at the same time. This body of mine is no longer mine, that’s for sure.
I had my 33 week appointment yesterday and all was well. I probably gained a little more than I should have over the last two weeks, but we just had our baby shower and many visitors which meant lots of eating foods I wouldn’t normally eat… you know, things like half of a half sheet of cake. 
I expect things to get back to normal for the next visit. We’re measuring right on target size-wise and my blood pressure is still excellent!
Last night, D and I interviewed a prospective doctor for Liam and LOVED HIM! He is actually D’s doctor from the family practice we both go to. This doctor is experienced, has a sense of humor, and is super approachable. Bonus: he used to deliver babies and he probably has one of the largest pediatric practices as a family doctor in our area. We’re stoked!
Next up on the big baby prep list: baby laundry, clothes-sorting, birth plan writing, and labor bag packing. I feel like I have so much to do before the little peanut gets here, yikes!
I’m back!
Nov 11
23 weeks today!
Well, this picture was actually taken at 22.5 weeks. So much has happened in the last 9 weeks! We found out that we’re having a BOY! We’re so excited to know what we’re having so that we can call him by his name: Liam. Here are some pictures from Liam’s first official photo shoot.
I love his little dancing legs in the bottom one. Let me tell you, this boy likes to move! I feel him move A LOT now! It’s just so amazing that I’m growing a real, live, miniature person inside of me. It makes me feel like I’m kind of a big deal. (Rob Burgundy, anyone?)
This fall has been full with celebration and good food.
Are you drooling yet? In order of appearance: my home-made seared shrimp dinner made by my wonderful hubby to celebrate the half-way mark of our pregnancy (20 weeks for those of you keeping track); my 20 week celebration flowers from hubby; and my meal at The Lobster Trap to celebrate our finding out we were having a little boy!
Here are some pics of us at the Biltmore Estate for Liam’s first visit. We have season passes, so it’s fun to just walk around the grounds and enjoy nature.
Yeah, we live a pretty sad existence here in the mountains of WNC, don’t we? Heh heh. We couldn’t possibly love life more. We’re so thankful for each other and all we have. That’s all for now. I SWEAR, I’ll be better at keeping up with this blog. Perhaps a goal of at least once a week is a more realistic one for me to have.
See you soon!
MIA
Sep 7
Well, I have to apologize for possibly being the WBE (worst blogger EVER). I’ve been a little pre-occupied with a current “project” and wasn’t quite ready to unveil it in my blog. It’s just been such a huge part of my life and I knew I wouldn’t be able to blog about anything but “it.”
I’m sure some of you are wondering what I’m talking about. Others know and have known for a while because of the closeness of our relationship. Well……
WE’RE PREGNANT! I’m finally in the second trimester and we heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time last Friday. It’s such an exciting time for D and I. We feel very blessed and just plain happy about this new journey in our lives.
It’s been a relatively easy pregnancy so far. During my first trimester, I really wasn’t up for eating my normal foods and I wanted to do nothing but sleep. Overall, though, it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t toss my cookies once!
I’m feeling much more energy these days and my desire for healthy (and maybe some not-so-healthy) food is back to normal for the most part. I’m currently in my 14th week, but here is a pic of the little one during the 9th week.
And, just in case you’d like a glimpse into the excitement we have for this little one, here is a picture of the car seat/stroller travel system we bought when we FIRST found out at about 4 weeks. Yeah, we’re THAT ridiculous!
This picture is of the display in the store. Ours is still in its box in our closet. We felt like we had to buy SOMETHING in celebration of the excitement. Plus, it was on sale.
Happy Labor Day, everyone!
We’re back from Las Vegas! The title of the blog is from the movie The Hangover. They guys in the movie actually stayed in Caesar’s Palace (we made the reservations to stay there before the movie came out).
Well, D and I are both EXHAUSTED! We flew home on a red eye flight that departed at 10:45pm Vegas time on Thursday and landed in Charlotte at 6am Eastern Time on Friday. Whew!
Well, this morning I woke up for some hot and humid yoga at the Bikram Yoga Asheville studio and then had one of these!
Helloooo Green Monster! I’ve missed you so! And now for the highlights of the trip! Caesar’s Palace is very “Vegas” with all the extravagant marble statues and floors. It’s located centrally on the strip. I highly suggest it for any Vegas first-timers. Here are some pics
The second day of trip was our 4th wedding anniversary. Our big plans included an indoor gondola ride and dinner at The Venetian. The indoor gondola ride was super fun. Our gondola driver? was from Rome, Italy, and sang us 3 beautiful songs a capella.
Dinner at Canneletto was AMAZING! It started with a delicious hot rye roll and evoo…
Next, a spring mix salad with grapes, pears, and blue cheese crumbles (yeah, dairy and I don’t get along well but I had to have the tanginess with my salad).
And now, the main course…
My dinner was sea bass with roasted tomatoes, artichokes, sauteed spinach (it’s under the fish), roasted potatoes, and some sort of delicious sauce. This dish was packed with tangy, salty, and sweet flavors. Each element worked together harmoniously to provide a tasty and complex bite every time.
Ooh, and THEN there was dessert…
This is a summer fruit tart with strawberries, kiwi, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. D and I shared this beautful creation and then headed off to see Mystere, a cirque du soleil show.
In order to prevent this post from being MILES and MILES long, I’m going to abbreviate a little more. While in Vegas, we saw Mystere, The Blue Man Group, and Jubilee–a traditional Vegas showgirls show(did you know that the girls in the show are REALLY topless??? I sooooooooo didn’t realize that until the opening act of the show). We walked up and down the strip almost every day hitting up the following casino/hotels: Caesar’s, Circus Circus, The Venetian, Mirage, Treasure Island, The Palazzo, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, The Palms(not on the strip but we took a cab there), New York New York, Paris, Bally, and Planet Hollywood. I think that was all of them. We also got to see D’s Uncle Pat and his other half while in Vegas. Uncle Pat lives in Vegas.
Some of my favorite restaurant pics included Cafe Bellagio (we ate there twice for brunch) and Al Dente in Bally’s. I enjoyed two scrumptious omelets at Cafe Bellagio–not at the same time of course. Our first visit introduced me to the Spa Omelet (asparagus and egg whites). It came with whole wheat toast, a roasted tomato, asparagus, fresh tomatoes, and lettuce. Ooh, and marmalade.
Two days later, we went back to Cafe Bellagio with Uncle Pat where I enjoyed a Garden Omelet and lost $17 playing Keno(you can gamble while enjoying your meal). The omelet was incorporated with lots of chopped broccoli, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, and onions. It was topped with avocado and served with a side of hash browns and a roasted tomato. Man, it was was awesome!
We ate at Al Dente before seeing Jubilee. We started the meal withsome fresh bread with evoo and a spring mix salad. For my entree, I had seared scallops with ratatouille and a tomato bisque sauce. It also came with some polenta.
This was one the most delicious dishes I’ve EVER had. I shared one of my scallops with D and he agrees. The sweet and tender flavor of the scallop was infused with a tangy, salty herb crust. I took each bit with a piece of polenta and some ratatouille and it was a divine flavor explosion. If you’re ever in Vegas, you need to try this! Here’s a picture of us that night before going to the show!
Here’s us with a Blue Man. If you ever have the chance to see a Blue Man Group Show, DO IT! Words can’t possibly describe the creativity, the energy, and the fun that this show provides. It was definitely my favorite of the three shows we saw in Vegas.
And so I bring this trip summary to a close. Once I create an online photo album, I’ll share the link for those of you who are interested in seeing all of the pictures. I’m off to bed. I’ve got a long day tomorrow as I get ready to go back to work after being off for a month. Man, time flies!
Vegas Trip Eve
Jun 20
It’s a hot one in beautiful Asheville today. I’m sweating inside of my own house. Why not just turn on the AC? Well, we’re waiting until July to start using it. We’re really enjoying the lower energy bills and the month is coming to a close quickly, anyhow. Today is really the first day that I’ve broke a sweat while just sitting in the house.
I slept in this morning until about 8:45am–Hagrid won’t sleep much later than that. I had a slice of Food For Life 7 Sprouted Grain bread with some MaraNatha almond butter for a pre-workout snack and then drove to the “torture chamber” that is the Bikram Yoga Asheville studio.
Class was HUMID today. It was practically raining in the room. If you’re not a fan of hot yoga or have never heard of it, you probably think I’m a crazy woman to enjoy 90 minutes of 26 postures in 105 degree heat. I can’t really explain it, but I just knew it was for me after that first super intense class back in March 2008. Truly, I love all types of yoga and believe that everyone can find some kind of benefit from some kind of yoga.
After class, I felt a little woozy.. but great at the same time. I needed to replenish my electrolytes and fuel up! Upon arriving home, I put together a green monster with a banana, 2c spinach, 1 scoop amazing meal, and 1tbsp honey. I also had a leftover salad from my lunch at Bruegger’s Bagels yesterday.
The picture quality is kind of crummy. The Bruegger’s salad was delish! This is about one-third of the actual salad (I enjoyed the other two-thirds yesterday for lunch). I think it was called the Asian Sensation. It had chicken, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, dried cranberries, and feta cheese (I’ve recently stopped eating dairy because it hurts my tummy but it was just a teeny bit of crumble). I drizzled 1T of evoo on it for some healthy fat and “garnished” the plate with some FFL 7 sprouted grains bread.
The afternoon was filled with prepping for the big 4 year wedding anniversary trip to Las Vegas! I’m so excited! It will be my first visit there. As the afternoon came to a close it was time to get this little one ready to eat dinner and settle in to the kennel for the next 5ish days.
I wish we could bring her on vacation, but she’ll be staying in her own little doggie daycare/hotel. When we go on vacation we take her to You Work I’ll Play in Asheville. The people there are wonderful and they really spoil take care of the dogs like their own. We usually have to say our good-byes at home before we get to YWIP because once she sees the people and the dogs, she instantly forgets about us. It’s nice to know that our baby is loved while mommy and daddy are off vacationing. Since we don’t have kids right now, she’s pretty much like our child.
After we dropped off Hagrid, we went to Moe’s for dinner (Welcome to MOE’S!). Sorry, no food pictures. 
I didn’t bring the camera and neither of us had our phones. The Moe’s stop was a spontaneous one as I was driving to Target and realized that I totally didn’t want to cook. I enjoyed a Joey Jr. minus the cheese with the tortilla on the side. Did you know that Moe’s has jr.-sized burritos now?! WOO HOO! Their regular burritos are ridiculously ginormous! My Joey Jr. had black beans, chicken, rice, pico de gallo, cilantr0 peppers and little bit of guac. I probably ate about one-third of the tortilla. It was YUM-O!
And now we’re back home and all packed up. I just have a few carry-on items that I need tonight before stowing away for the trip. We fly out of Charlotte at 8am so we plan to leave at 4:30am to account for the two-hour drive. That means we need to wake up at 4am to eat some eeeeearly breakfast. I, of course, will be enjoying an AMAZING green smoothie before the big travelling day since I won’t be able to enjoy them on the trip.
D put on Ocean’s 13 a little while ago in the spirit of our Vegas trip. Don’t worry, we’re not planning to rob any casinos during our trip. 
I hope to update a few times this week with some Vegas adventures stories and pics. See you soon!
Pre-Vegas Wednesday!
Jun 17
I’ve been MIA for a long time. (sorry about that)
There are only 4 days until D and I leave for Las Vegas! I’m so pumped! We’re taking a week long vacation to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been four years! We have so much fun every day and love each other more than we ever have. Ok, I’ll stop being to mushy… on with the day!
I woke up around 7am and hopped on the stationary bike for a 45 minute jaunt. I finished up my morning work-out with 15-20 minutes worth of strength training. Next it was time for an energizing green monster.
This morning’s green monster included the following:
1c oat milk
~2c fresh spinach
1 banana
1 scoop Amazing Grass’ Amazing Meal
1/2c crushed pineapple
handful of ice
On the side: Food for Life Sprouted grain bread with 1T PB&Co Dark Chocolate Dream
I’m on a big green monster kick so far this summer(it’s almost summer, right?). These smoothies are so refreshing and I love getting my greens in the morning!
After breakfast, I plopped down at the dining room table and checked emails, read blogs, clipped and organized coupons, and finalized my shopping list.
Yep, I’m a coupon clipper. The way I see it, the more I can save with coupons, the more we can spend/save elsewhere. I keep my coupons organized by type and go through the binder often to weed out expired offers.
All that coupon clipping and organizing got me ready for some of this:
My lunch included some leftover curried lentils with brown rice, homemade northern bean hummus, carrots, and lemon zinger tea! Those two little pills are my calcium supplements. I get tummy aches when I drink milk. ..sad, I know.
I prepped D’s lunch and piled on some carrots for him, too. He’s not exactly a health like me so when he gets his meal, he immediately devours the vegetables so he can “enjoy” the rest of his meal.
Well, that’s all for now. I’ll be prepping for Vegas and doing some random chores around the house today! Man, I love having the month of June off from work. Happy Wednesday!
I <3 NC Blueberry Season!
May 31
My morning started with a little blueberry action. I made some oatmeal with 1/4c of rolled oats, 1/4c of oat milk, 1/4c of water, 1/2 a banana, maple extract, and cinnamon. I topped it all off with a 1/2c of NC blueberries and 8 chopped almonds. Happy Sunday to ME!
Hagrid decided to help me get ready for church. She just loves chattin’ it up while I pick out clothes and get ready for the day.
Lunch included a green monster with some wasa crackers, carrots, and garlicky hummus.
After fueling up, the whole gang (D, Hagrid, and myself) headed out to the Blue Ridge Parkway to meet up with the in-laws for a nice little hike. The day was sunny and warm with a cool breeze. The trail was well shaded with pockets of sunlight and provided a nice venue for a little exercise and family bonding. 
I relaxed with a little “cocktail hour” drink and snack: soda water with lime, sprouted grain bread, and an olive oil/balsamic vinegar/herb mix. I love getting my healthy oils in this way. I feel like I’m treating myself to something extra special!
After enjoying my snack, I laid down on the couch with Hagrid and dozed off for a little while. I guess all that sunshine got to me! For dinner, we had homemade black bean burgers (as inspired by Kath at www.katheats.com). My recipe called for 1/2c black beans, 1T of brown rice and 1/2T of whole wheat panko. My seasonings included worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and a burger rub. For sides, we had 1/2 of a whole wheat pita, 1T of hummus, and some kale chips. GOOD STUFF!
I enjoyed a square of dark chocolate for dessert–a sweet ending to a sweet day. I think I’ll end the day with some NC blueberries and my lovable familial unit. Happy Sunday!
First official post!
May 30
Greetings! This is my first post on justbeingb! I thought I would dive right in and post the goings on of the day! My blog is (and probably will always be) a work in progress. I haven’t even finished my “About Me” section yet. Oh well.. Let’s DO THIS!
D (my husband) and I got our Saturday morning started with a work out (50 mins. on the stationary bike for me) and a yummy breakfast. We had eggs, some sprouted grain toast, eggs, and some coffee!
After some showers, hanging out with the dog, and reading, we went out to enjoy the splender of the day! Man, we love living in the mountains of Western NC! It’s beautiful here 365 days of the year!
For lunch, we went to our fave sushi establishment for some lunch! I enjoyed the roll at the top left. It was the salmon avocado roll. DELISH! I also enjoyed half a bowl of miso soup and some soda water with lemon!
After lunch we met up with some friends to attend the Mountain Sports Festival and a Dog Agility Competition. I didn’t take any pics at these events, but we had fun in the 80 degree weather!
After hula hooping, listening to live music, and watching some agile dogs, it was time for nourishment. Before driving home to rescue our dog, Hagrid, from solitude, D and I hit up our local discount health food store for some necessities. I got all of this stuff for $9.71. It truly is AMAZING at Amazing Savings!
Since I didn’t have any greens yet today, I decided that this would be a good time for a GREEN MONSTER! Polly at www.yogaisyummy.net inspired my trying this! Thanks Polly! Here’s a before picture:
Trust me, it’s an absolutely delicious treat to add to the day–it’s like a ridiculously healthy milkshake! This one is made with 1c oat milk, a big handful of raw kale, one banana, and some ice. Here is the final meal with some sprouted grain toast and PB&Co White Chocolate Wonderful PB. As RR would say, “YUM-O!”. For dessert, I had a square of dark chocolate.
Not bad for a first post. I hope to keep up almost daily, but we’ll see what happens. I’ve been very inspired by other healthy living food bloggers and I’m excited for the opportunity to write and share!
Well, I’m pretty exhausted. It’s time for some tea and some reading and/or movie-watching with D and Hagrid. See you soon!