November Baby Shower

Me with Kim. She works as a Lab & X-ray Tech in the Outpatient Lab next door to the doctor's office I used to work at. Funny thing is that 5 years ago when I was in Phlebotomy School, I trained with her! A few years later is when I went to work next door.

Jaime & baby Danica

Office Manager Karen with Kelly

Nurse Deb, Mary, & Nurse Becky

Lynn, Johanna, & Dr. Nash (shower hostess)

Jodi & Nurse Lauren

Gifts from everyone at the Doctor's Office. Baby Monitor & Space Saver Highchair.

On Sunday afternoon Megan Nash hosted a baby shower for me at her house. All invited were the ladies from the Doctor's office where I used to work. It was a fantastic afternoon spent with some dear and wonderful friends. They pitched in to get me the baby monitor & highchair we had registered for, plus loaded us up with outfits, tylenol infant drops, diapers, wipes, and towels. We even got a humidifier, some baby books, toys, & bibs! I am so blessed to have such great people in my life. A big Thank You to Megan for hosting the shower and to everyone else as well. It was so nice to see and visit with everyone again. I miss working with them!

Dan & Kelly Engagement Photo Session

On Saturday, I had the privilege of taking the engagement photos for our good friends, Kelly Pearson & Dan Holler. They graciously allowed me to have fun and take a bunch of pictures! I am so glad we were able to spend time outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Thank you guys for your patience and I hope you enjoy these! More to come...

False Alarm

Its hard to believe I am 32 weeks pregnant already! Where has the time gone? We have 8 weeks left until Aiden's due date for arrival, but only 5 weeks until the doctors consider him "full term".

We had a little bit of an interesting evening yesterday. I have been feeling a little cramping discomfort in my lower back for the past couple weeks and the doctors have been checking me weekly to make sure not starting to go into labor.

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Well my symptoms were a bit worse yesterday so I called my OB Doctor. The nurse advised me to go to the hospital to get checked out. I left work, drove to Pittsburgh and picked Jon up after work and we drove over to the hosptial.We discovered that during "rush hour" headed into the city that even with that traffic, it only took us 1hr from the time I left the house til we arrived at the hospital. Not too bad.

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Anyway, I went up to Labor & Delivery and they put me on monitors and did a test to see if I was in Preterm Labor. I did have a few small "peaks" on the monitors which I guess translated as a few small contractions, but nothing to worry about. It was interesting to watch the baby's hearbeat on the monitors. He stayed steadily in the 140-150 range but a couple times went up in the 180s to 190s then dropped to 120s. The cramping they said was normal but some of it was caused by baby's position: "Oh, yup his head is right there, thats probably causing a lot of your pressure" the doctor said as he felt around on my belly.

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We arrived at the hospital about 5:40pm and left about 4 hours later. Anyway, very glad to know that everything is fine and we aren't having baby Aiden anytime soon! I feel much better after getting checked out. I will start going to the doctor every 2 weeks now. We were very impressed with the hospital after our false alarm last night and are very comfortable with the idea of delivering there in several weeks.

Tortilla Soup

2 cans of black beans (drained)

2 cans of diced Italian Style tomatoes

1 can of chicken broth

1 can of tomato sauce

1 small can of green chillis

1 small jar of salsa

1/2 cup of water

2 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded/chopped into small pieces.

Combine all but chicken & cook for at least 1hr. Then add cooked chicken and cook for another hour. Beans should be soft. It is also ok to eat if not cooked so long. Just make sure to bring everything to a boil and cook for 20 min, add chicken and cook additional 10 minutes.

*I have done this in the crockpot for 6-8 hrs on low (chicken and all) and it has turned out super delicious! I just added a bit more water/tomato juice. The longer it cooks, the more tender the chicken and the softer the beans.

Top with crumbled Tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, & sour cream. ENJOY!

Recipe from Jenna Fatula