Mother's Day

When Matt and I found out we were expecting an addition to our family, I asked him, "When you think you will start feeling like a Dad?"  He said that he already did.  It took me a while longer to have that feeling, but now that I can feel the baby moving around all the time, it is defintely real. 

I wasn't expecting anything for Mother's day since Baby Opitz hasn't arrived yet, but I have really thoughtful parents.  Today I received such an amazing and unexpected gift from them.  Two of my favorite things (can you guess?), but the packaging made this feel like a personal invitation to a Royal Wedding.  The process of opening the gift was amazing, so I documented each step!

It smelled like heaven!  Immaculate packaging and presentation.

Gorgeous box with a tufted lid!

At first, I thought it was an immaculate display of flowers... and it is, but there's more.

Gorgeous, if you don't already know this about me, I LOVE flowers!  Freshly cut or potted, edible or for looks.  They always make me happy and I love gardening.  It's my therapy after a long day. 

"Oh wow, how amazing that it comes with the soil in tact so you can plant them to grow... wait... that's not..."

CAKE!!!!!  YES, CAKE!

Yes, a chocolate cake topped with gorgeous flowers!  Honestly one of the most special gifts ever!

I would like to say Happy Mother's day to my mom, Brenda.  (You can be Trixie all day on Mother's day!)  Matt and I love you, your personality and your unconventional ways.  You were a wonderful mother to John and I growing up and still managing to own and run a business and commute 2 hours a day to get your accounting degree.  I can't imagine how much you had on your plate with 11 and 13 year old kids.  I am really proud of you and all of your accomplishments.  I love you!

To Lochie, we are very blessed to have you in our lives and in the same town.  It's wonderful having family nearby to call and get dinner with so frequently.  You have raised an amazing family with great morals and values.  There's a special place in Heaven for mother's of three boys!  We look forward to all the great times ahead.  Happy Mother's day, we love you!

May Flowers and Baby Showers

Our amazing hosts had originally planned an outdoor, late afternoon brunch for us, but the weather did not cooperate.  The shower moved locations due to the rain, but I have to say, being indoors with all of our friends and family felt really special!  The hosts did such an amazing job putting everything together and making it special for us.  I got emotional just walking inside!  Everything was so beautiful!  I'll let the pictures do the talking...

A hand painted  "O" was hanging on the door, which will soon be part of our nursery! 

Welcome!

All of my favorite things! Pigs-in-blankets, quiches, fruit salad, cinnamon rolls, and Petit Fores!

Lemonade, Bloody Mary's and Mimosas (with Tott's champagne - how clever!) were served.

I loved the yellow touches.  The petit fores have a yellow "O" on them as well

Brandon & Sarah, Ed & Haddy

A jogging stroller!  Thanks Mom & Dad!

 Bringing gifts unwrapped was a brilliant idea!  No clean up from wrapping paper AND everyone can see the gifts.  Baby gifts are so much fun - notice the darling Roo and red Tom's shoes!

These are my wonderful hosts (minus two - Denise left earlier and Michele couldn't make it from Wimberly).  They each received a different color monogrammed John Hart pouch.  

Mich, we missed you and I can't wait to see you soon! 

The hosts: Lisa (expecting a boy in October), Claire (getting married in November), Stacey (getting married in June) and Darby (my best friend since childhood).  Such great friends!!

It's a little one sided!  We shall see! 

I love the small caption below that reads "A horned frog"

Darby & I

Onsies from the Moores, inspired lake attire! 

Stacey & I

Darby, my mom and I

Showered with love!

Tommy, Katie, Rob and Matt

Denise & I, playing with the host gift

We are a tad bit obsessed with baby items at the moment!

As you can see, Denise (one of the hosts) is having a baby in July too!   

She is due a couple weeks before me - how fun!

Everything coordinated in yellow and grey, how thoughtful!!

We are really looking forward to evening walks to the ice cream shop down the street! Yay!

A huge Thank You to the hosts for a wonderful shower and amazing gift!

Sean & Jana

Dennis & Lochie

Stacey, Lindsey, Caroline and Claire

Kara, Sarah & Brandon, Hunter & Denise

Logan, Matt and Rob

Logan was sweet to drive in from San Antonio for the occasion - so sweet!!

Bumbo, Boppy and Brica, Oh My!

Christy & Jana

Tyler, Darby & John

Do they make this for adults?  It looks so comfortable!

Madison & John

My Dad and Darby

We are so fortunate and blessed to have such wonderful family and friends!  Thank you for sharing our excitement in anticipation of our little Baby Opitz!  

The Nursery.... baby steps

NOW I completely understand what people are talking about when they refer to the nesting habits that expectant mother's have!  They only get stronger as the weeks go by.  It feels as though the baby will be here any moment.... and there's so much to do!  How will we ever get it all done? 

Matt has been great about keeping on top of things (with a little "encouragement" on my part).  Our big project at the moment is the nursery, which until this point has been an office and storage room.  We spent a weekend cleaning out catalogs and books and then had a garage sale to give us some space.  The only thing we didn't sell (or donate afterwards) is the furniture.  Once this is sold via Craigslist, we are going to move our desk & computer into our bedroom and start with a blank canvas.  Baby steps!

We were given an adorable crib and changing table set from Rob & Christy, Matt's oldest brother and his wife (thank you!), that we are thrilled about using!  They used it for their children 11 and 9 years ago and we are really excited about it.  I had to work this past Saturday (the day before our shower), but that didn't stop my sweet husband from getting the project started.  With the help of John (my brother), he picked up the furniture, got the sanding and painting equipment together and got to work.  I had to document what I came home to.... it was so sweet!

 Matt painting on the side rails to the crib, sweet husband!

John & Matt at work 

The Mascot, happy to be spending a day outside with the boys! 

Russ!

It was a bit warm outside! 

teamwork!!

A D.I.Y. Dad in the making!

We hope to finish the painting portion of the project this weekend.  I have spent a few hours now, trying to find new hardware for the changing table.  We need six pulls that have a 3-1/2" spread and two small knobs that coordinate/match.  Apparently Home Depot and Lowes don't carry this size.  Anthropologie had some really cute pulls, but not enough.  We are still looking for the right ones!

The Bump at 30 weeks

So many people have been asking me to post a picture of the baby bump so here it is at 30 weeks!  It is getting big and giving me back pain, but so far the pregnancy has been really good, so I can't complain.  I keep telling Baby Opitz that we are running out of real estate, so if he/she would like to come early, we are okay with that.  Just 10 weeks left until baby Opitz enters the world!!!

While I'm not keen on the idea of posting pictures of myself at my all-time biggest size, there will be more pictures to come after our baby shower tomorrow.  The irony is that the weather predition is actually rain!  We are so excited to see friends and family!!!

Russ was trying to make an appearance on the blog, since there has been next to no news about him, here's an update!  He is doing great; he's such a happy dog.  He has a torquoise bandana on from the Easter weekend at the lake.  Always a fashionable doggie!  I can tell that he is much more gentle around me than he used to be.  I noticed that his bark changed from a deep and intimidating bark to a soft high-pitched bark for about 1-2 months.  Now it's back to normal, but I have no idea what changed and why.  I keep telling him about his new buddy that's on the way and I think he is actually excited and curious!  I can't wait to introduce them! 

Getting Excited about our Baby Shower

I have such great friends and am so blessed that they offered to throw us a baby shower, regardless that just over one year ago, we spent countless months and parties celebrating our upcoming marriage.  Matt and I are working really hard this week on getting the study cleared out, deep cleaned and ready to become the nursery.  If only for a month and a half, it will be a nursery! 

My sweet husband, I have to mention, is handling my 'nesting' instinct with patience and love.  I am really lucky to have him there to crack a joke when things get tense.  His support throughtout this pregnancy has only brought out his best attributes.  He is a wonderful husband.  I know he is going to be the best Dad and I can't wait until the birth, when he is the first person to know if our baby is a girl or a boy!  What an amazing surprise!

So I want to brag on my friend, Denise, who is one of my dear friends hosting our baby shower and is also having a July baby (due 3 weeks before ours).  She designed the invitation for our couples shower happening this Sunday afternoon.  I think it's darling and wanted to share her talents.  All the girls planning the shower are creative with cute original ideas; I can't wait to see what they come up with for the shower!

Childbirth Preparation Class

Baby Opitz is now close to three lbs. and measures up to 16 inches long!  Even though I tend to read ahead in our baby books, I an always amazed that he/she keeps getting so big!  Matt and I are really excited about meeting this little person very soon!

Matt and I finished our class at Baylor Hospital last night.  I would definitely recommend this to expectant couples!  It informs you about the entire birth process, medical procedures, what your choices are when it comes to a birth plan, breathing and relaxation exercises, and we had a tour of the facility at the end.  At the end of the class, each couple gives a brief presentation on a topic of interest.  The hospital is very new and has it's own women's wing.  After talking with many people about their birth experiences and researching the facilities, we made our decision to deliver at Baylor in Fort Worth.

It seems that hopsitals are really pushing for the all natural experience and really encourage breast feeding.  I am really lucky to have a sister-in-law who is a delivery nurse and has been able to give a lot of insight to what may or may not happen with our experience.  We are going into this with the midset that the baby is really going to determine what kind of birth experience we will have.  We do have a couple requirements that we hope will not raise any questions: we ARE definitely all about the epidural and we do NOT want to use forceps in any situation.  We have also opted to keep it simple in the actual delivery room so that Matt and I are the only ones in the room during labor and delivery.  The hospital has everything one could need while waiting in anticipation of our little one, and once the baby is born, we are so excited to have family come join us to meet the little one!  I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl! Ahhhhh!

As we were driving home from the Easter weekend, we started looking around for a good place to buy our baby's first outfit to go home in.  I found the cutest online store called Hiccups Children's Boutique that has darling outfits for spring and summer babies. http://hiccupschildrensboutique.com/  I am completely in love with seersucker (which we are using in our baby's room) so hopefully we can find something cute and cool for our July baby!

This week our goal is to empty out the study and transform it into a very clean and tidy nursery!  More to come on this!

Sliding into Third!

It's hard to believe that we are already in the third trimester!  I feel peace in knowing that the baby could arrive at any moment now, and since the lungs and other vital organs are fully formed, there is a great chance of survival! The words "time flies" have never felt so true.  The baby is growing and moving around all the time.  It's starting to keep me up at night and often catches me by surprise during the day.  If there are five minutes that I am not already thinking about this baby, he/she really gets a kick (no pun!) out of getting my attention.  I think this is my crash course for motherhood!

The baby is now the size of a head or cauliflower and is about 16 inches long.  Everything looks good with him/her and we are looking forward to our next appointment on May 2nd.  It's been a while since we have had a sonogram, but thankfully, our doctor's office is getting a machine for the room since the wait for the machine takes foooorever!  I think I have seen Bee Movie in the lobby now about 10 times. 

We also have a baby shower coming up that we are so excited about!  It's happening in Fort Worth on a Sunday afternoon.  It's a couples shower hosted by some of my favorite girl friends.  I can't wait to see everyone!  It has been very hard not to start buying the items on our registry. 

I am in OCD overdrive!  It has totally kicked in and I feel almost panicky when I think about how much we have to do before Baby Opitz arrives.  We have started cleaning out the office in preparation for a temporary nursery while we are waiting for our house to be finished.  I thought I would be able to do without one until September, but I can't handle it.  The office needed to be consolidated as it is.  It has created quite a mess, but

I thought it would be fun to make a list of all the things we (baby & I) have cravings for.  Though most of these items could be summed up as a 'sweets' category, I wanted to make a detailed list of what we indulge in.  Favorite snacks and treats:

FRUIT, every different kind: mango, oranges, apples, strawberries, blue, black and raspberries, lemon and lime in our mineral water, peaches, nectarines, bananas.  I probably have double the average serving per day.
ROOTBEER FLOATS, especially from Curly's in Ft. Worth
PBJ, honestly, nothing is better than a peanut butter & jelly with a glass of cold milk
PETTI FORES, among other baked goods like cake.  My love for them has gone to a new level!
APPLE & ORANGE JUICE, I get tired of the usual H2O.
ICE CREAM & GELATO, need I say more?
VEGGIES, carrots & celery with ranch, homemade cold bruschetta

Favorite meals:
CEREAL, Fruit Loops and Cheerios have probably seen growth in sales recently!
BURGERS, I still enjoy these loaded with veggies
SALADS, anything light and fresh!  I probably eat more salads than anything else.
QUESADILLAS, though spice has taken the backseat, mexican dinners are still a favorite!
CHICKEN FINGERS, 'm usually a grilled chix girl, but these days it's got to be breaded.

Things I thought I would want, but don't:
Pickles, (I usually eat these by the jar.... and then freeze the juice for a pickle sicle!), coffee, steak, spaghetti & pizza, cocktails (minus margs)
Things I miss: Sushi, Margarita's, Energy, Fancy cheese boards, sandwiches

Next blog I will share about our birthing class experience!  Happy Easter, have a great weekend!

SOCCER BALL!

We are now in our 26th week, and according to our trusty What to Expect app, my uterus is the size of a soccer ball!  AND, the baby is the size of a eggplant this week!  He/She is moving around a lot, and sometimes waking me up in the middle of the night.  Our baby bedding came in last night and it makes this whole process that much more real.  (It's so cute!)  I can't wait to bring our little monkey (as we have been referring to him/her) home!  Ok, this could totally change when our baby arrives, but as of now we have decided on the following names:

Crawford Ryan Opitz

for a boy, and he will go by Crawford

OR

Adelaide Nicole Opitz

for a girl, and she will go by Addie

As for the Nursery, people keep asking me what I plan to do here.  I have been undecided until I saw this cute bedding, which came in last night (yea!).  It's a really light blue and leans a little toward the green family, making it a blue that could be used either way.  If we have a girl, I plan on painting the room yellow or pink and monogramming (as shown in the picture) with her initials.  If it's a boy, we will either paint the room a neutral color in the beige/french grey family or blue.  Same goes for the monogram.  Remember that we will not move into our house until September, so we'll have time to plan for this!  Matt and I love this classic look!

A group of friends and I hosted a baby shower for a friend of mine and I took some pictures that I look forward to sharing very soon! 

THE OPITZ IN OVERDRIVE!

First off, I apologize for the gap between this post and my previous one! There is so much to catch up on, we have been busy busy! Second, thank you Michele for being a diligent little picture taker! You did, infact, document our first photograph on the baby bump before the Barnaby party

Great Expectations!

I hope that one day this blog will be a way for our child/family to look back on the very beginning of his/her life(s). I would have loved to know what my mother was doing while I was in the womb. There are only a few pictures of her that I can find while she was pregnant with me. I don't blame her... I have not been documenting my belly size either. Maybe a few will be fun for our little one to see later on in life. Baby Opitz is now in his/her 25th week of existence! The little one has now been out of the U.S. to visit family in Panama (where my Dad was born and lived until he came to the US to go to the University of Texas in Austin). Related to the baby, we did have many firsts while on our trip which I am excited to share. I will make a separate post about the trip to Panama; there were many day trips and adventures to tell about.

WHILE IN PANAMA, BABY OPITZ:

-took his/her first international flight

-first experienced the ocean at the beach in Coronado

-celebrated Carnival in Penonome

-savored many Panamanian dishes, lots of sea food

-visited the birth place of his/her grandfather (my dad) and toured the Panama Canal

-had one too many amazing snow cones (best I've ever had)

-toured the jungle where we saw a beautiful waterfall

-STARTED MOVING A LOT! Matt felt him/her move for the first time!!!!

-Floated in the pool almost every day

THE 20 WEEK SONOGRAM

It's so fun not knowing what the gender is! Matt and I go back and forth, talking about how fun it will be to have either and how the experiences will be different. Before our last sonogram (while in Panama) I swore that this child was a girl! I even bought the most adorable hand embroidered dress. THEN, we had our big appointment, 20 Weeks, and even though the sonographer didn't tell us what it was (and steered clear of that general area) the baby looks like a boy to me. I think it's because it looks like Matt's profile as a baby. Matt has a big head, I have a small head, and from what I can tell the baby has a big head like his/her Dad! Matt has always thought the baby is a boy and is crazy for a particular name for him. Once we find the right middle name I will announce what it is! Turns out that this name is also a family name on my side... how convenient! As for a girl, which is what I thought the baby was, Adelaide Nicole Opitz is the front runner. And for short: Addie Opitz! Just the sound of this name allows me to visualize the perfect baby room for her!

The 20 week appointment was so fun to watch and stress-relieving! As expectant parents, all I think about is whether the baby is healthy and how he/she is progressing. My avid reading keeps me informed about the weekly progress, but I want to know more about ours specifically! At this stage, the baby's skin is still pretty transparent and we were able to see the organs: four chambers of the heart, liver, kidneys, etc. Matt actually took a video of the "baby tour" with our iFlip that I will post later on. Everything looks great at this point and time! We are so excited and hope and pray that we have a healthy and happy baby.

FUNNY STORY!

We did have a moment of weakness while in the room getting our sonogram! At the end of the 'baby tour' the sonographer asked us, "Are you sure you don't want to know the sex of the baby?" I looked at Matt with pleading eyes (yes, i love the suspense, but sometimes I want to find out!) and we discussed it for way too long without coming to a decision. The tech said, "How about this.... I'll write it down and fold it and put it in an envelope, sealed, for you to take with you and you can decide if you want to open it or not. Many couples do it over dinner or on a special occassion." SO WE TOOK THE ENVELOPE HOME!!! Matt held it up to the light and could not see anything (thick manilla envelope) so we couldn't peek. I put it on the refrigerator with our other sono pictures, thus giving myself TWO reasons to stand at the fridge during the day. It was painful not to open it. We thought about whether we actually did want to know (for 24 hours) and agreed that if we did, we would open it on our 1 year anniversary in April. But neither of us want to spoil the surprises of that special day, so we had to burn it!!! The guessing game is still on!!

A PLACE TO CALL OUR OWN

After a long and tiresome hunt for the right house for our growing family, we finally found the right spot! Last week we signed a contract to build a home with HD Homes on Belle Place in Fort Worth (which is about 5 blocks from where we live now). We know and love the area so much. Still in the historic parts of Camp Bowie, less than a mile to the museum district and a 5 minute car ride to downtown. Not to mention that Fort Worth has greatly improved the dining shopping experience on the way there. We feel really blessed to have found such a great spot to start our family. Even better we are 4 houses away from Curly's Custard (great frozen custard shop) and the city just improved the road closest to ours. Can you tell: I'm looking forward to our evening walks with Baby Opitz to get dessert!?!

The only catch is that our house won't be finished until September... meaning that we will be making the move with a one-and-a-half month old in some of the hottest days of the year. I have to say, the excitement overwhelms all of these potentially hazardous thoughts! The baby's nursery will be ready to move in and now we can plan to have a gender specific room even though we aren't finding out!