Visit to the "Country"

After stuffing our faces with Thanksgiving food, we packed up the car and headed to Dad's house in the "country". We had such a great time just watching movies, staying cozy (it was COLD out there!), and enjoying the peace and quiet.

On Friday we got up and went for a walk along their property, down to a small waterfall and in the meadow. Rosie came along and definitely found her inner "country" dog. Mike and I decided that we don't give her enough credit for being an adventurous, and just assume that she likes indoor activities. :) She was running SO fast and jumping and chasing leaves left and right - it was hilarious! She was EXHAUSTED the next day too. I tried to get pictures, but my camera is so awful. Thank goodness we ordered a new one last night.

There are a few houses around where they live and there is definitely some hunting going on - you can hear gunshots in the morning, and since there is so much open land, we had to wear our safety gear. The bright orange accessories were funny, but I am glad we were wearing it since we heard gunshots while we were walking through the meadow.

Rosie embracing her love for the outdoors

Mike and Dad in ther safety gear

Mike called this his "hunting bra"

First Thanksgiving Meal

So I wanted to do a post about my first Thanksgiving meal that I cooked! I was actually pretty proud of myself because nothing was burned or tasted awful. Well, the mashed potatoes were a little lumpy, but they still tasted great. And although I ended up buying a few things, my greatest accomplishment of the day was that the turkey was delicious! As some of you know, I am not the best cook in the world, but I have to admit I've made some pretty great strides in the past year or so and now would consider myself alright in the kitchen. :)

I also made two flower arrangements to go on our table and we used our china, so I think the table looked pretty good! I really do like setting a nice table for entertaining, so even though it was just Mike and I, I wanted it still to look pretty and festive! I'm not going to lie, I felt a little bit like Martha Stewart that day! I have really come to enjoy doing crafty, Martha Stewart-y things around the house lately. I think I might even attempt making a Christmas wreath this year!

Here are some pictures of Mike and my Thanksgiving dinner.

Give Thanks

This year I have been feeling especially thankful. For the past two weeks Mike and I have been getting ready to cook our first Thanksgiving dinner by ourselves, and although I've been more than a little sad about not being with any of our extended family for the meal, it's made me realize how great we have it in the Sartori house.

We have each other. We have a dog that makes us laugh all the time and snuggles when we need it. We have loving and supportive parents. We have great siblings (although we don't see them as much as we'd like to these days since California and Hawaii are far away). We have friends that love us and we love in return. We have a house, and food to eat, and clothes to wear, which is more than some people can say. We have jobs. We have a healthy baby girl coming in February. And the list goes on...

So although I was sad last week thinking about most of my family in Arkansas, and Mike's family in Hawaii, I feel lucky that I have family to miss and a warm house and food to cook and a husband who I appreciate more than I can express in words.

We are heading to my Dad's house this afternoon to spend time with him and Megan and I am really looking forward to spending some down time in the woods. I am thankful that my first turkey I ever cooked didn't burn, and that Mike and I truly enjoyed probably our last holiday alone together without our baby girl.

I am so thankful.

It's a girl!

At our last doctor's appointment, we FINALLY found out that we are having a baby girl! However, she did make us wait longer than we were anticipating this time too... the ultrasound technician still couldn't tell what she was when we went in for the first look because of the way she was turned. But, she offered to let us come back for another look once she was done with her other appointments for the day. Mike went back to work to get his computer and things to take home that night, while I took a long walk around the hospital and sipped on a Coke. :) It was the first caffeine I've had since getting pregnant and I was a little shaky (and I only drank about 1/4 of it)! But, we were able to get a 100% positive read. Third time's a charm I guess!

We have decided to name her Norah, but have yet to come up with a middle name. We both love Norah so much that we're having a hard time finding something that isn't too much of a mouthful with Sartori. We have a couple of ideas but aren't quite sure just yet.

I have decided to embrace all the pink (at least until she is old enough to tell me that she doesn't like pink if that's the case!). We have painted the nursery walls a really pale pink that is so cute, but we still have some finishing touches to add. I'm going to do a post on the nursery later with pictures.

She has been kicking quite a bit lately, so much so sometimes that I can see my stomach jiggling which is so funny! She is especially active right after lunch time, in the evenings, and she wakes me up at least once a night. I was just telling my mom last night that I think I've reached the point of no return with sleeping through the night!

This week we are just going to be getting ready for Thanksgiving - I'm cooking for the first time (for just Mike and I)! I'm thinking the turkey will be the hardest part? We'll see!

Halloween

Let's review the Sartori family halloween in pictures:

Mike beginning the carving process

Scary!

Rosie (she is feeling very thankful that we didn't dress up her as a lobster this year)

Side Shot

Three Pumpkins

A Lesson in Patience

Our second ultrasound appointment was scehduled for October 15th. Because Mike's birthday is October 17th, we prepared a card for the ultrasound technician to fill out. It said:
Happy Birthday Daddy
I am a ___________

which she was going to fill in with the sex of our baby. Well, things don't always workout the way we plan them, do they?

We were in the ultrasound room for 45 minutes. The technician did her very best to help us in our quest to know if we were having a boy or a girl, but no such luck. Baby Sartori's legs were perfectly crossed in front of the area of interest. I was slightly (okay VERY) disappointed to say the least and it took me a few hours (and a lovely bouquet of flowers from my very thoughtful husband at work) to cheer up.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. Perhaps our baby is already teaching me a lesson in patience. I, by nature, am a planner and I do realize that it will be absolutley impossible to plan everything with a child. I am already learning so much more from he or she than I thought I would....

Now I'm just looking forward to November 10th (and I plan to eat some sugar before we go!).

We're Growing!

Mike and I have created this blog so that everyone near and far can join us during our journey of becoming parents! The little one is due February 26th, 2010, and I am 15 weeks along. We are so excited and can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl in October. These are the first ultrasound pictures from when I was about 8.5 weeks. I'm not so sure that the ultrasound technician got the "Head" and "Body" labels right, but what do I know?! The little "bean" (which we've been calling it) is much bigger now, and my tummy is definitely growing. I'll post pictures of the bump soon!