Week 27

Hello 3rd trimester, it is so nice to meet you.
We are getting closer and closer to meeting out sweet little girl, and I am getting more and more excited.
We moved at the end of last week and while it has been completely exhausting, it's also been kind of fun. We are almost unpacked, which I consider to be a pretty major accomplishment, and I'm amazed at how much this place already feels like home. We bought our first set of couches. It was tough for us to spend that kind of money, but we ended up finding a great deal at a rooms to go outlet store on a couple of couches that we're loving.
Ruby's room is full of things that we aren't quite sure what to do with yet, but the thought of getting it all set up for her makes me giddy. After we get completely unpacked I plan on starting on decorating her room, I can't wait.
Our little sweetie has passed the 2lb marker, and has grown half an inch since last week. Big developmental milestone this week: she opens her eyes and can see! Before she could detect light, but now she's actually looking around in there. I'm sure it's not the most exciting place to see, but it's neat to think about her pretty little eyes being open. She's still moving all the time, and still loves to show off for her dad at night by flipping around and making my belly look like a wave from the outside.
We'll get to meet our sweet girl in just about 85 days, give or take a few. I can't wait to hold her in my arms. Until then, I'm content holding her in my belly and feeling her crazy little self move around.

Here's a picture of my growing belly...we're getting big Ruby!

Insta-Update

I've tried to be more intentional about taking my little point and shoot everywhere we go. I usually get as far as putting it in my purse and then forgetting to actually use it to take pictures. I would like to get better at this once Ruby gets here, and I'm sure it will be much easier to remember to document life with a cute baby in tow. Until then, my phone is my main camera, and instagram is my main choice of a fun way to spice them up a bit.

Here's a photo dump from the last few weeks of life.

Whataburger: clogging arteries and making my husband happy for God knows how long...

OJ in a tiny mason jar. 

Gran & Grandma at the Crosby farm 

Beautiful Texas 

Cute cousins

Strange Louisiana 

Prints for Ruby's room...cannot wait to get started on decorating!

Packing!! Andrew has so many books. 

Ruby makes an alright packing buddy. In my past experience, it's easier sans baby in belly, but I wouldn't change anything. :) 

My assisted living community's pet bunny, Happy. He's a sweet little thing that will let you pet his soft bunny fur, and wiggle his nose in pure delight while you're doing it. 

Weeks 24-26

I haven't done a pregnancy post in almost 3 weeks! Oops. It's been a fun, hectic time around these parts, and it's only about to get more hectic and fun.

Ruby is growing a ton. Her hobbies include kicking me, punching me, waking me up in the middle of the night with her hiccups and somersaults, and showing off for her daddy before bed. She's a busy little girl, always moving. I'm thinking she must move in her sleep, because she is almost constantly doing something...except when people want to feel her, she gets a little shy most of the time.

She's almost a whopping 2 pounds, and around 14 inches! If she were born today, she would have a really great chance of survival, with medical assistance.
Time is flying by, and I know it wont be long until we get to hold our sweet girl. Every time I see a baby I think about how we will have one soon, and she will be ours. It's a little scary and overwhelming at times, but also amazing and exciting. I can't wait to welcome her into the world, and our lives.

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.
I didn't take any specific belly shots, so this is the best there is...

24 weeks, Jazz Fest watching the Foo Fighters

Ruby had her first Jazz Fest experience. She loved dancing to the Foo Fighters, especially when I got tired and relaxed on the grass. It seems like her favorite time to move is when I'm relaxing. It was a hot, fun day. I don't think we'll be taking Ruby to Jazz Fest again for a few more years, so I hope she enjoyed it while she could. I just can't imagine lugging a baby around in the heat with thousands of other people around. Who knows, maybe we'll get adventurous...or just get a babysitter.

25 weeks, Auntie C meeting Ruby at the farm in Texas

We had a great time in Texas celebrating Julie's graduation, Dani Beth's birthday, and Mother's Day. It was so fun to see family, friends, and eat food that my pregnant self has been craving like crazy.

26 weeks, Ruby riding in the car 

We're getting ready to move. My least favorite thing in the world to do! I've moved SO much in the past 6 years, at least 1 time per year, it's just gotten old. Packing is not fun, I tend to get stressed out and overwhelmed way too easily, which makes me a really fun person to live with I'm sure. I'm excited about the move, it is going to fit our family so much better, but there are always mixed emotions with change. We're going to miss living in the city so close to everything, but I know we will love our new house so much more. I can't wait to get in and set everything up...I feel like I will go into full blown nesting mode once we move in.

We're down to the double digits until Ruby's due date! 98 days until she's scheduled to arrive. I have this strange intuition feeling that she'll be coming a little early, but it could go either way, we'll just have to wait and see. Either way, it's getting close!! 

Her name.

Well, we still haven't decided on a middle name for our girl. I've come to the conclusion that she a.) will not get a middle name until after we meet her or  b.) will not have a middle name at all.
Since her name is no longer a secret (we couldn't help but share with our friends, and hey, word spreads!), I figured I could share it on here so that I can start referring to her by her real name instead of  just plain ole 'baby girl'.

Her name is very special to us for several reasons. 

For one, she is named after a very special lady 

Family tradition of giving Aggie Ma a dishtowel calender for Christmas.
Christmas 2010 

Aggie Ma's 101st birthday 

Andrew's "Aggie Ma", who lived to be 101 (and was witty, and spunky for all 101 years), was named Ruby. She is a woman who has made a huge impact on Andrew's life, and we thought it would be really special to name our daughter after her. She left a great legacy and we're proud to have our girl carry that on in a sense by having her name. 

When we decided on Ruby (after much deliberation...naming a kid is HARD work), we realized that we would be breaking a big family tradition on the Crosby side of using a biblical name. Until I realized that Ruby (although it's not a name) is definitely in the bible...just the plural version most of the time. When I began to read the passages that talk about rubies; how special, and precious they are it made my heart swell and fall in love with her name even more. The ruby was one of the stones in the high priest's breast plate (Ex. 28:17), is used to compare wisdom (Proverbs 3:15), and in several other passages to describe the worth of different things. All of these passages imply how highly prized rubies were in biblical times. Our prayer for our Ruby is that she will know how precious, loved, and valuable she is to her dad and I, but most importantly, that all the love we feel for her cannot even begin to compare to the love that her Savior has for her. 

If those two reasons aren't enough to satisfy you, we also really liked the uniqueness of the name. I like that she will probably be the only Ruby in her class growing up (unless it spikes in popularity sometime soon). I like that it's old fashioned, I feel like it's classic and she will never be to young or to old for her name. 

So, there ya go! If you didn't know already, now you do. 

Ruby is her name, and it's a mighty beautiful one if you ask me. 

I can't wait to see her and put a face with the name that we thought so hard over. 

Meal Planning

I am terrible when it comes to planning out meals for our little family. I think most of it stems from the fact that Andrew is just so darn easy to please, when it comes to meals we usually just throw something together at the last minute and it's usually edible enough. If it's not, we always have cereal on hand (if you know me, you know I could eat cereal for every meal and be quite content). However, I've been challenged lately by several blogs I read that have done meal-planning challenges, or just discussed easy recipes or meals that they make for their families. Since soon I will have one more mouth to feed (that eventually will probably not be as easy to please as her daddy), I've decided to try and start planning meals a little better. I'm taking it in baby-steps, because I know if I overcommit myself and set the goal too high, I'll burn out and then go back to my old "hmmmm....what's in the cabinet that I can throw together" ways. Andrew and I have also decided that since we're about to have a baby, who will without a doubt cost us money, we should start saving more (which means less eating out). We love to eat out...it's a guilty pleasure that we just cannot deny living in a city with such amazing food options, but we know we need to cut back slightly.

I sat down this past weekend with a pen and paper and started my pinterest search. I've used pinterest for a while, so I've got a good amount of recipes that I've pinned thinking I might want to make them someday. I picked 3 semi-simple, yummy looking meals to make this week.

1. Chicken-broccoli bake 
2. Barbacoa beef tacos 
3. Chicken enchiladas 

Can you tell I'm craving mexican food??

I knew we had to have a lot of chicken centered food this week because we had 4 huge chicken breasts left over from a barbeque we had for our friend Stephen's birthday last weekend, but my plan got thrown a little of kilter when our friends planned a Cinco De Mayo party for Saturday and I offered to make Chicken Enchiladas (already had all the ingredients, and wanted to try the recipe...perfect!). I ended up making quesadillas one night and then we had a free for all with the rest of the left over food from the barbeque the next night.

Tonight (we STILL had 2 left-over chicken breasts), I made the Chicken-broccoli bake and oh my goodness...YUM! Definitely not the healthiest recipe in the world (by far), but still extremely delicious. I altered the recipe just slightly to make it a little less fattening (less cheese, less butter, and less ritz crackers on top), and it was still so good. I think what made it so good is the fact that the sauce in homemade rather than just a can of cream of chicken soup...less sodium and preservatives, too! This makes a lot of food, which is okay because that means I get to eat it for lunch, too.

If you like broccoli, cheese, and ritz, you should make this! 

I'm really hoping that I can keep up the pace with meal-planning. I'm going to try my darnedest. Hopefully blogging will help me stay accountable. 

I'll keep you updated.