Can I blame it on the baby?

Can I blame it on the baby? My reason for not posting in over a month...
So much has been happening that I can't seem to sit myself down to update the blog! Now I have no excuse because as of last Friday I am no longer a career woman, but a full time mom instead. No, Cade hasn't arrived yet, but I am in full preparation mode. Finishing up his room, washing clothes, Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, and Christmas tree shopping. I am excited to say that I am done with the shopping and wrapping! The baby's room is almost ready and I have been getting some much needed rest while battling a cold.
I would like to give an update on what has been happening (though if you read Jenny's blog you'll get a good idea!) I have had not 1, but 4 wonderful baby showers! We have been spoiled like crazy, but what I have enjoyed the most is seeing friends and family and sharing in wonderful memories before Cade arrives.

Mom's "Family" Shower

Jenny, Michelle and Stacy Shower

Office Ladies Shower (playing a fun, but competitive game!)

On my mom's birthday she went to Disneyland with my dad and Eric and I took some fun pictures with Jenny to capture my pregnancy. Jenny did a fabulous job and they will be a wonderful keepsake.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Cooper side of the family a week early. It was a big group with some of our favorite family friends in town to celebrate with us as well. Thanksgiving day we shared with Eric's family in a slightly untraditional fashion. We had chicken fried steak instead of turkey! It is a Matthews' family favorite. Both celebrations were filled with lots of love and laughter.

As it draws closer to Cade's arrival I am filled with so many emotions. I am excited for him to join our family, nervous for labor (yikes!) and in awe of how our life is about to change yet again with this tiny miracle. I have been comforted recently by reading a wonderful book by John MacArthur called The Extraordinary Mother. It has a collection of stories of mothers in the bible. Their courage, faith, strength and love for their children has been an encouragement to me. A particular scripture quoted in the book has been most inspiring "A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come, but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world." John 16:21. I can't wait for that moment of JOY!

37 Weeks

39 weeks!!

Trip to Underwood Farms... 2 years later

October 12 celebrates one of the best days of my life. It was 2 years ago on this day that the one the Lord created for me proposed in the most special of ways. He carved "will you marry me?" into a beautiful pumpkin and left it among the uncarved pumpkins, and right next to a white pumpkin, for me to find.

After leading me through a lane of pumpkins, we started to walk among them and I noticed one had been carved, but couldn't see what it said. Eric got down on his knee to turn it towards me and that is when I noticed it said "Will you marry me?" Out of shock I exclaimed " Did you do that??!" He said yes and asked me again to which I said "YES!!" We spent the rest of the day celebrating and rejoicing in the love the Lord had blessed us with.

Now here we are two years later expecting our baby boy, Cade in just a few months. I can't wait to watch Eric holding our child. It will be an exciting day for our family. This weekend we went back to Underwood Farms where Eric proposed and walked down memory lane, holding hand and talking about that wonderful day. I am just overwhelmed by the blessings I have received in marrying this wonderful man. He cherishes me, spoils me and I can't believe how much more I love him today than yesterday. The Lord continues to reveal to me in the smallest ways how He created Eric to be my perfect match.

We took some fun pictures to celebrate our engagement, and picked out the traditional pumpkin and white pumpkin to celebrate the occasion! Thank you Husby for each day you show how much you love me. I am a blessed woman and cherish you as my best friend and love of my life. Thank you for making me a mommy and for caring for our family. I am so grateful to be walking this journey with you.

30 weeks pregnant and thinking my belly is pretty much the same size as the pumpkin I am holding!

September Wrap Up.. SF, a crib and some pesto

A little late, but here is a picture from our weekend in San Francisco. We traveled up with my parents and Lucy for a very fun weekend. It was Katie's birthday that following week, so we had a little early celebration with a cake, candles and presents! Juliet is very kind and letting Cade use her crib and dresser since she is a big girl with new furniture. Thank you Adam's family for a wonderful weekend, great food and lots of laughter!

Juliet is now 7 years old, so the crib needed just a little TLC. It is in perfect condition, but had yellowed a bit from being stored. We (and by we I mean me :) )thought it would be a fun project to refinish the crib. I did a little research and found out what kind of paint would be safe and just what we needed to do to get the job done. My husband being so protective of me and his little guy wouldn't let me get in on the action, so he managed to sand the entire crib by himself, but got some help from a pro in applying the primer. My dad (Gramps as Cade will call him) was around to help and even had a great invention for painting. They hung the pieces from a ladder that was hanging from the ceiling so they could paint both sides, which got my dad thinking he could create a paint booth in the garage to put the final coats on each piece. I love you daddy - you make this so much fun and always an adventure! Eric appreciated the help and loved spending time with Pops (as Eric calls him) too :)

So what was I doing while my husband was hard at work? Well mom and I decided to make pesto from scratch. We had gone to the farmer's market and picked up some wonderful smelling basil. Mom picked up the rest of the ingredients from the market and then we realized that she didn't have a food processor! No problem, we'll just use the blender... Well the blender wasn't such a great idea. It wasn't moving things around well enough, so we stuck a wooden spoon in it just to give it a little help. This was a brilliant idea until I went a bit far and the blade caught the end of the spoon, scared me and I flung the cup of olive oil I was holding all over the chair, the floor and myself. What a mess! We grabbed a food processor to finish the job (thanks Aggie!) and it actually turned out great. The next day we decided to stick to from the box gluten free brownies (Betty Crocker and they are the BEST!). No catastrophes there thankfully.

We had a great weekend with Gramps and Grammie who are very excited to meet their grandson! I am now 30 weeks, so Cade's arrival is just around the corner. People have been asking for a photo update of the belly, so here you go!