7 Quick Takes – 32 Week Ultrasound, Birthday Lunch and Pickles!

Here is this weeks Quick Takes post, up on time and with pictures!

1. I have decided it is officially Fall enough to start classifying my pictures as Fall and not Summer. I officially started this on Sept 7, much to the annoyance of DH who keeps insisting it’s not officially fall. But the cooler weather is here and rather than start more summer albums that won’t get full on facebook I’ll just say it’s fall.

I always start the winter album when we get the first real snow (aka stays on the ground) regardless of the calendar.

Looks like fall to me…

2. My best friend took me out for dinner last week. We went to one of my favorite restaurants that I never go to because it’s expensive, because she said it was my choice. We had a lovely meal but the conversation was more enjoyable. I value every minute we get to spend together because I fee like I hardly see her, and we spent not 2 but 3 leisurely hours in the restaurant I couldn’t believe it was after 10:30pm when we were done!

3. As I’ve been going looking back through the baby book at the pages I have left to do I saw the page of my first room. I am glad to say I have a few nice pictures of the nursery in the apartment, but it inspired me to take some of the new nursery, here at DH’s parents’ house. So, here’s a tour of baby’s current room:
Looking in

Crib and change table

Dresser

Baptism cross

Care Bears

I also needed a picture of DH for the Daddy page and I wanted it to reflect who he is etc, so I took photos of him biking. This is the photo I was trying to recreate, because I took it with the bad camera (I didn’t realize he had no helmet for the original!):

And here’s what I came up with:

4. I finally started reading a non-secular book again, this one is called My Spirit Rejoices. It is about a woman with a very atheistic husband, and her faith in spite of the world around her. I have found it hard to get into. I think this is because I’ve found it a bit discouraging, because it seems like an ideal that at present I fall far short of, and I can’t see myself there any time soon. However, I decided it was still worth it to continue trying to read it because at least then the ideas are in my head and who knows what God could do with that in the future (a leap of faith I attribute to my experience after reading twilight). I can definitely say I’m already experiencing the effects, as some of what I read there definitely came into play while I was on the retreat.

5. Speaking of the retreat I am extremely happy I took the initiative etc to go as it was a very rewarding experience and definitely brought me closer to God. A more detailed account will follow sometime in the future but it was just what i needed to really get back to my good place – after confession and before the last month or so of being pregnant and then a new baby….

6. On Friday I had my follow up ultrasound and unfortunately we were not able to figure out what we were having. God clearly wants that to remain a mystery so I can only trust that He will give me whatever grace needed to only feel joy if I end up having another boy. On the other hand He still blessed me with a photo of the sonogram, because the technician left the room for a moment with a picture still up on the screen. Say hello to the new little one:

After the ultrasound DH and I changed into nice clothes, picked up the baby and drove to the Rope Loft for my make-up birthday lunch.

The best mussels I’ve ever had

I picked Friday because it seemed like right after seeing our baby together was a good time for that sort of celebration, and we spent a lovely afternoon together, before I went away for the weekend.


The baby ate well, clams, lobster, a few bites of shrimp, asparagus, spinach and a little tiramisu with whipped cream for dessert.

Interestingly, DH actually deigned to try the tiramisu itself, even though I said it was coffee flavored (instead of just stealing my whipped cream). The more interesting thing: He actually liked it.

7. On Wednesday morning DMIL made a batch of mustard pickles! I had never seen pickles being made…at least not that I can remember. And given all the vegetables she puts in, if you eat enough I think it would definitely count as a vegetable serving!

Pickles!

This shot looks like it could be taken years ago in an old cellar