Five on Friday {February 21, 2014}

Happy Friday!! I'm linking up with Darci again today for Five on Friday!

One.
We went to an infant CPR class on Wednesday night, and while the class was extremely informative and helpful, I'm thinking that Daniel and I shouldn't have sat together. When they put those cheesy videos on with the *terrible* acting, we had a hard time controlling our snickering. You know when you start laughing in church about something that's not that funny, but you can't stop laughing because you know you're not supposed to be laughing? Yeah, it was like that. Thankfully, we were in the back row. We had the same problem at our childbirth classes during the "relaxation" exercises. Lots of giggling. Oh, and we were total champs at the CPR thing...except when Daniel popped the chest off of his mannequin.

Two.
I have a new money making app to share with you! It's called Checkout 51 and it's probably the easiest one yet. It's a lot like Receipt Hog and Ibotta. One thing I really like about Checkout 51 is that they do offers for things like fresh produce, milk, and bread. I redeemed an offer last week for fresh strawberries, and they have another offer this week for bananas. All you do is select the offers you want to redeem, upload your receipt, and it will be approved within 24 hours. Once you earn $20, they'll mail you a check.

{Click here to see my entire post about several other money making apps.}

Three.
My maternity leave is coming up so quickly {but yet, so slowly}! I knew it would be a *ton* of work getting everything ready, but it has me so completely overwhelmed. It's so hard to try to think about every little detail. I will say, though, that the organization lover in me is having fun putting together this pretty binder. The dividers and perfectly hole punched pages make me happy.

Four.
We had such a good Valentine's Day weekend! We were talking the night before and were shocked to realize that it was our 6th {!!} Valentine's Day together...or as the lady at the Publix bakery wrote...our "6th Valentine Day". Daniel said he knew he was in trouble when she asked someone how to spell Valentine's. And yes, if you're wondering, he did get us me an entire cake for Valentine's Day. What can I say? I'm pregnant and I love cake. Don't worry, half of it is in the freezer.

Here we are on our very first Valentine's Day together in 2009. It feels like so long ago!

Five.
So, just for laughs, and maybe a little sympathy, I thought I'd share a photo of my "balloon feet" as I affectionately call them.  I've been talking about how bad my feet are swelling in my weekly pregnancy updates, and you just can't appreciate it unless you see it. After all, one of the reasons I started this blog was so I'd have pictures to go along with memories. This one is definitely a doozy. It's so bad, I know. If you hate feet, I'm so sorry.

On that note, happy Friday, friends! You'll find me this weekend with my balloon feet propped up! ;)

  

36 Weeks

Click here to see my other weekly pregnancy update posts.

Click here to see my step-by-step chalk art tutorial.

How Far Along: 36 weeks and 1 day

Size of Baby: According to BabyCenter, the baby is the size of a head of romaine lettuce. She's more than 18.5 inches long now and weighs 6 pounds. She gains about an ounce a day!

Total Weight Gain: Don't know, don't care. I'm lying. I DO care, but I'm trying not think about it!

Gender: It's a girl!! And she now has a first *and* middle name, Emery Faith. We went back and forth for months with a few names and finally one night I told Daniel he was just going to have to decide because I couldn't. About three seconds later, he said "Faith" and that was that. :) I love it.

Maternity Clothes: For sure.

Wedding Rings On/Off: My rings are still fine, but are getting just a tiny bit snug.

Stretch Marks: Still just the same ones I've had for a little while now. I'm thankful no new ones have popped up yet.

Sleep: It's been good and bad. Some nights I sleep great, and other nights I wake up super early and just end up getting up and going to work {like today...gotta get that maternity leave binder finished}. I do wake up at least once every single night around 3:00.

Cravings/Aversions: I've been really thirsty for water lately. Seafood {mainly shrimp} has also sounded good, but I know I have to be careful with what I eat and how much. Sweets are still my favorite, but I don't really think that has anything to do with being pregnant. ;)

Symptoms: The worst thing right now is how swollen my legs, angles, and feet are. They seriously freak me out sometimes. I'm afraid I might get stretch marks on my feet! I'm still drinking lots of water and putting my feet up as much as I can. I've even started to put my feet up on the little chairs in my classroom sometimes. The only other thing I've been dealing with is heartburn. It's not every day, but when I do get it, it's pretty bad. Other than that, I'm really feeling pretty good! The back pain is pretty much gone!

Movement: She's been kind of ornery lately and gave us a little scare on Sunday morning. Usually she's really active in the mornings, but I didn't feel anything for a couple of hours. We just kept waiting and waiting, and finally she started moving around again. I'm thinking it's just that she's running out of room, but it still worried me.

Mood: Happy, excited, and nervous!

What I Miss: Feet that fit in my shoes.

Looking Forward To: I can't wait to get my maternity leave binder finished. It is crazy overwhelming. I've gotten a lot done this week, and I'm so ready for the day when I can say it's done. It will be so nice to not have to worry about school for two months!

Best Moment This Week: We had a great Valentine's Day weekend! We went to Bonefish Grill {that wasn't so great} and went to see Endless Love which was a sweet movie. Daniel and I talked about it afterward, though, and it's funny how we look at those movies differently now that we have a daughter coming!! On Saturday, we got lots of other things done to get ready for Emery's arrival! I feel like we can pretty much say we're ready!

  

Babymoon in Nashville! {January 31, 2014-February 2, 2014}

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Opryland Hotel in Nashville for the weekend for our babymoon...one last little getaway before our sweet little baby gets here. It was the week of the first round of snow and ice in Alabama so I didn't have school that day and Daniel worked from home. It was so nice that it worked out that way because we were able to leave earlier in the afternoon instead of waiting until after work. More time in Nashville! Of course, I woke up with what I thought were just allergies but then turned into a cold...which is why I look pretty pitiful in these pictures.

Oh, and just a heads up...we ate. A LOT. That's one of the best things about being on vacation, right? :)

Once we got to the hotel and got checked in, we found our room {no small task in this *giant* hotel} and immediately opened the balcony doors to check out the view. We loved it so much that our balcony doors pretty much stayed open all the time unless we were sleeping.

The first night, we stayed at the hotel {you never really have to leave} to eat dinner.

We ate first {yes, there were two dinners involved} at the Mexican restaurant and had their famous guacamole, and then a few hours later we ate at our very favorite restaurant in the hotel, Wasabi's. I was so excited to have some sushi. It was cooked, of course. :)

Later, we stopped by Bravo Gelato for some dessert. So, so yummy! Then we just walked around the hotel to enjoy all the scenery {and so Daniel could take 378 pictures that I later had to sort through}.

The next morning, we got up and had breakfast at the little coffee shop in the hotel. They call it The Cocoa Bean, but it's basically a Starbucks. Even the cups have the Starbucks logo.

The view is just as beautiful in the morning.

Once we got ready for the day, we went to another section of the hotel that has more restaurants and cute little shops.

We ate lunch, did a little shopping, and then headed to the *huge* outlet mall right next door to the hotel.

I've heard people say that once you have kids, you really don't shop for yourself anymore. That's definitely proving to be true! Everywhere we go now, we see things for the baby that we want to buy! We got some adorable little outfits at the Carter's outlet! Daddy was taking it pretty seriously, too. I love this. And no, that's not a purse...it's a camera bag. ;)

After a LOT of shopping, those mall massage chairs were calling my name. I've never actually used one before, but oh my goodness, it was wonderful! Those leg squeezy things were so nice! And of course, no trip to the mall is complete without a visit to Cinnabon!

Once we got back to the hotel, we got ready for dinner and headed out to one of the "fancier" restaurants in the hotel.

We ended up going to Ravello, an Italian restaurant. Umm, let me just go ahead and save you some trouble here...not worth it. It's really pretty and has a great atmosphere, but it was overpriced and just not delicious. :(

Oh well, there's always the second dinner! ;) We walked around for a little while, taking more pictures of the scenery. This place really is just so gorgeous at night.

Then it was back to Wasabi's for one last try at dinner. It didn't disappoint, as usual.

The next morning, we woke up much earlier than we planned {I was feeling *awful* by this time!}, ate breakfast at the hotel, and headed back home. We can't wait to take Emery with us someday!! :)

**Oh, and teacher friends, don't forget that the hotel offers a teacher appreciation rate of $99 a night!! You just have to call a couple of months ahead. :)

  

#richlyblesseddaily2014 {Week 6}

Week 6 of #richlyblesseddaily2014! You can follow along every day on Instagram @richlyblessedblog. :)

Click here to see previous weeks.

Day 39: Helped my mom and sister with a few baby shower things, got a pedicure because flip flops will soon be a necessity (balloon feet!), did a LOT of baby shopping, and Daddy even put together her swing! I think we're almost ready for her to get here!

 Day 40: My mom and sister threw me a beautiful baby shower today! Thank you to all my precious friends and family who celebrated with me. Daniel and I had so much fun organizing everything in the nursery when we got home!

Day 41: Working on this week's chalkboard, watching the Olympics with my sweetheart, and happy as can be because there's no school tomorrow!!! :)

 Day 42: We ordered a pizza to celebrate another snow day (!!!!) tomorrow, Daniel put together the pack and play, and I did a little nesting in the nursery.

 Day 43: We packed Emery's bag for the hospital!

 Day 44: I made some cupcakes for my students (because tomorrow won't be crazy enough already) and worked on the baby book today.

Day 45: The perfect Valentine's Day...breakfast together, lunch together at school, roses, cake, dinner out, and a movie.