Today was my third prenatal appointment and second ultrasound. Everything looks fine - Baby EJ's heartbeat was strong: 150bpm. We still have been unable to detect the heartbeat with a doppler, so we haven't heard it yet (the ultrasound equipment only counts the beats), so we a look forward to hearing that precious "thump-thump-thump-thump" soon! Take a look at the photo below...Baby EJ is starting to look, well, more baby like!
~Sarah E. Rose~
We were fortunate to enjoy and share our vacation with Justin’s mother Dee while touring the New England states. We started off with a road trip to visit our friends, Derek and Katie, in New Bedford / Dartmouth, Massachusetts (driving through Rhode Island, of course) on Sunday. While we were there, we decided to stop in and tour the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Then on Tuesday we headed to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts and up to New Hampshire to visit Dee’s friend, Kellee. From there we headed to the White Mountains, just barely visited Maine (literally!) and then came back home through Vermont. So there, we got them all in: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont!
Today we had our first prenatal appointment and ultrasound. Sarah's doctor said everything looks great and our official due date is March 30th. Baby EJ had a heartbeat of 163bpm and was hanging upside down when we had the ultrasound so Justin has dubbed Baby EJ as his little possum!
I won Worship Passes to Rock the Sound NYC 2009 which included two tickets to three separate concerts each featuring three guest bands and one main performer. The first performance was on Friday night, so on Friday afternoon we hopped on a train headed to NYC. Friday night we saw The Afters, Run Kid Run, Phil Wickham, and the Newsboys. The Newsboys were AWESOME and amazing performers - we especially loved Michael Tait, their new lead singer (he was previously with DC Talk). After the concert Friday night, we headed to Times Square - this was Justin's first trip to NYC. He loved it! He was like a little kid looking at all the lights :) We spent the night at the New Yorker Hotel near the concert venue (they actually shared a wall they were so close). Saturday morning we took a leisurely stroll around Manhattan - even visited the New York Public Library (remember Ghostbusters?) and enjoyed lunch in Bryant Park. The next concert started Saturday afternoon and featured Superchick, Aaron Shust, Tenth Avenue North, and Jeremy Camp. There was another concert Saturday evening that we also had tickets to, but I was way too tired to stay any longer and we hadn't made hotel arrangements for Saturday evening AND we still had a two hour train ride ahead of us. I was really disappointed because the last concert featured my FAVORITE Christian artist - Casting Crowns. We decided since we won the tickets, that we should give the last pair away so I headed to the ticket line and ended up giving them to another couple. It was a bittersweet end to the day, but when we stopped back by the hotel to pick up our luggage, we got to meet Jeremy Camp!! God is awesome! We had an amazing (and busy) time and loved every minute of the adventure!!!
Today would by our angel son's 3rd birthday - how fitting was it that we also found out this week that he is going to be a big brother?!? Yup, we are excited to announce that Sarah is pregnant!!!! Baby "EJ" is due March 30, 2010 and we couldn't be more thrilled. Our first ultrasound is scheduled for August 17th. Please keep us in your prayers and continue to check back for updates.
The past couple of days we have had the pleasure of hosting Sarah's mom's first visit to New England since we moved here last June. We had a brief four day visit, but we were able to cram in a lot of fun sightseeing. Specifically, Sarah's mother, Debbie, is really into weaving and fiber arts so we planned her trip around the New England Weavers Seminar (NEWS) so we could visit and take in some great finds. Justin wasn't able to take the time off from work on Thursday and Friday so Debbie and Sarah headed up to Northampton, MA by themselves to visit the vendors and exhibits at NEWS. Debbie was even able to get in a nice 4-hour visit to WEBS, one of the largest fiber stores in the country!!! Saturday, the three of us spent the morning and early afternoon traveling the Connecticut and Rhode Island coast on our way to visit Debbie's Aunt and Uncle in Rochester, Massachusetts. Debbie has been asking us about Mystic Pizza since we moved up here (it is a restaurant located in Mystic, Connecticut that was made famous by a Julia Roberts film in 1988), so we stopped there on Saturday to check it out. It was, quite honestly, the BEST pizza we have ever had. On Sunday we went to church with Sarah's Great Aunt and Uncle before heading back to Connecticut. It was a brief visit, but we had a blast as usual!!
My AMAZING Weight Watchers Leader Kari put together a 5K for all of her Weight Watchers groups in response to a Weight Watchers challenge to get members to move more. The entry fee was simple: make a food donation equal to the amount of weight you had lost. Ninety of us participated and donated over 2,500lbs of food to five local food pantries. I was super excited to participate even though it meant coming up with a 70lb food donation!!!
Today we took the youth group out for their Annual Fun Fest Day. We left from the church and first went to ride go karts at a place in Berlin, Connecticut. From there we went to another location to play miniature golf and to ride bumper boats. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves and we were fortunate enough that the rain held off until after we returned to the church!
Today we went fishing on Bantam Lake with Sarah's dad Mike. We didn't get out on the water until about 6:20pm but the timing was perfect. It seemed like every time Mike and Justin cast out, they were reeling back in a fish. They mostly caught Rock Bass, but Mike caught one Largemouth Bass and Justin caught two Pike (he wasn't too thrilled with those because of their very large teeth). One of Justin's fish even lept out of the water into the boat. You can see the wet fish outline on his shirt - too funny! We had a great time and finished the day off with a beautiful sunset.
It's Memorial Day Weekend and since we live in a house that faces the Memorial Park in Bristol, it's really hard not to stop and reflect on those who have served our country. Every holiday weekend in the summer, the City of Bristol closes Memorial Boulevard for the community to enjoy the park and the extra space without having to fight traffic. Each year during Memorial Day Weekend, several branches of the military set up booths and displays along the closed road. We are told that the highlight of the weekend is when a Black Hawk Helicopter lands in the ballpark of the Memorial Boulevard Middle School, but unfortunately this year they weren't able to continue this tradition due to the fact that the helicopter was called to be somewhere else. Nonetheless, we still had a great time and it was especially nice to be able to step outside and see everything without even getting out of eyesight of our own home!
This past week we had the pleasure of hosting Justin's brother Aaron while he was visiting New England prior to his departure on a two-month long tour of Europe. Although our brief visit may fail by comparison to the exciting adventures that he will experience in Europe, we enjoyed our time visiting with him and showing him some of our favorite sites.
Aaron arrived in town Saturday evening so we still had the whole day Sunday for a beautiful drive along the coast. We stopped in Branford to view the Thimble Islands and then headed to Mystic before finishing the day at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville. Justin wasn't able to take off the rest of the time Aaron was in town so Sarah arranged to work half days Monday through Wednesday so she could have time to visit with Aaron in the afternoons.
Monday afternoon was spent making last minute preparations for his trip to Europe. On Tuesday, Sarah and Aaron visited Lamothe's Sugar House in Burlington and then headed to Canton for a hike along the Farmington River. Justin was able to get off from work earlier than anticipated so we all decided to end the evening with a trip to the movie theater to see the new Star Trek movie.
Aaron's plane to London was out of the JFK Airport in New York City on Wednesday evening and the original plan was to send him in on the train from New Haven Wednesday afternoon. Plans changed and Sarah decided to ride in with him and tour the city before his flight to Europe. Who would've thought that they could pack in a visit to Times Square, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and FAO Schwarz in less than three hours? Throw in a street vendor hot dog (NYC style) and a soft pretzel and you have the perfect New York City speed sightseeing tour!
Yes, the past couple of days were cram packed, but we thoroughly enjoyed the visit we had with Aaron!
Please excuse the bad hair (I was getting ready for bed), but I wanted to share my weight loss journey with those of you who have been asking how it's going. I've lost 62lbs so far since we moved to Connecticut and I plan on losing at least another 60lbs. Before you even ask, no, It's not because of some miracle drug or some new fad diet. I have been on Weight Watchers so I am making very healthy food choices. I also belong to the Gold's Gym here in Bristol and I absolutely LOVE it! I am turning into a gym rat. I'm even training for my first 5k which is coming up in June. I've cleaned out my closet and have donated most all of my clothes except for a few more recent (and better fitting) purchases. I will save this striped shirt for comparison though. Check back for more weight loss updates - I'm not through yet!!!!
~Sarah E. Rose~
Carmi, at his blog Written, Inc., has posted another interesting subject for his regular weekly thematic photographic project. This week’s project is "yellow" and once again I couldn’t resist participating and putting my own spin on my interpretation of "yellow."
So many things come to mind when I think of yellow: the sun, flowers, birds, primary colors, etc. If I were to just focus on "things," I could have captured just about anything in my daily life to participate in this week's challenge, but it wasn't the "things" that interested me. Yellow means so much more to us than the physical things that share it's color. Yellow can represent a variety of other intangible things, from bright to caution. Caution, being the inspiration and subject of my entry for this week's project.
I found this slow sign on a recent trip to Massachusetts. It was located on a park access road that was still closed for the winter season. At first all I could think about as I hiked past it was the irony in the fact that the only people to obey its command were those people wandering down the closed road. Usually only meant for vehicles and their drivers, I couldn't help but think this sign had another meaning for me as I walked by. Slow. So much is captured in this simple word of caution.
~Sarah E. Rose~
For some time now Sarah’s family has been trying to coordinate a visit for her Grandmother (Grandma Lo) in Missouri to visit her Grandmother’s brother (Uncle Ray) in Massachusetts. Obviously, since we now live closer to Massachusetts than Missouri, we too were anxious to see her come up for a visit. Grandma Lo and Sarah’s Aunt Denise arrived last night so we spent the night in Dartmouth and headed over to Rochester this morning for a visit. We started off the day with Mass at a darling little church nestled in the quite community of Marion just a few blocks from the coast. We then went back to Uncle Ray’s house for a nice Mother’s Day lunch. It has been years since Sarah had visited any of these relatives and Justin was meeting many of them for the first time. We had a nice, but brief, visit and were thankful that the family’s secret mission to get Grandma Lo to Massachusetts was finally accomplished!
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