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This weekend, once Thanksgiving was officially over, Mr. Handsome and I kicked off the Christmas season with a visit to a Christmas tree farm. The trees were average, but the farm had about 15 live reindeer, which turned out to be the highlight of our visit.
Have you ever seen a reindeer in person? I hadn’t.
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Like the stereotypical first-time mom, I brought a full sheet of questions to my preliminary obstetrics appointment. My healthcare provider gave me her full attention and took the time to respond to each of my inquiries, and by the end of the appointment, I could tell she was both competent and confident. One of the topics we discussed was the ultrasound. She explained that her office’s policy is to do one during the first trimester, one at 20 weeks to confirm the gender, and additional scans only as complications arise….
Have you heard the news? We’re having a boy! As promised in Tuesday’s post, this is the story of our secret gender reveal party, during which we cut into an “ordinary” chocolate cake that turned out to be a gender reveal cake.
When we first found out we were expecting, we enjoyed keeping the news to ourselves for three months before announcing to family and friends. From the start, I knew that I wanted to find out the gender of our baby at the 20-week ultrasound, and while Mr. Handsome liked the idea of waiting until the birth, he allowed me to choose….
Ever since we announced our pregnancy, our blog readers (and our family and friends) have been eager to find out the gender of our baby. We didn’t do a gender reveal party, but we did have a small gathering with a few family members. It’s a bit of a funny story that I’ll share later this week. Until then, the secret is inside this decadent chocolate cake! Will our new addition be a he or a she? Watch the video below to find out….
Earlier this week, Mr. Handsome and I announced our first pregnancy, and we have been overwhelmed by all the prayers and well wishes that you have sent our way. You are very kind! This is new territory for us, and it has already been quite the adventure.
I am more than halfway through the pregnancy, and although the due date still feels far away, I know it will go by in a snap. The first five months have passed by so quickly that I still sometimes forget that I’m pregnant! But then I feel a kick and am reminded that there is a little life growing inside me. The whole thing still feels too good to be true, similar to how the first months of marriage felt.
I am still struggling with morning sickness, and as the baby has grown, life in general has become increasingly harder, but I know it’s more than worth it. Below is a short video message that I filmed for my readers. …
Mr. Handsome and I have exciting news to share. We’re expecting a baby in four months! This pregnancy has gone by much quicker than I thought it would, and I am thrilled to be more than halfway through my second trimester.
We enjoyed keeping the secret to ourselves for the first few months and then sharing it with our parents about five weeks before telling the rest of our extended family. Since the middle of July, we have been slowly revealing the news to friends as we have seen them or had a chance to talk with them over the phone. For those who are new to the blog, Mr. Handsome and I have been married for just over three years, and we are grateful that God has chosen to grow our little family.
Recently, I was looking back at photos from our 2016 trip down the Oregon Coast and our 20-hour adventure in San Francisco, and I realized that I never told you about the chicken coop that we came across. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary chicken coop, but it’s not…it’s solar powered and self-operating!
While in San Francisco, we had dinner with Mr. Handsome’s distant cousin over the bridge in Sausalito. She lived in a very suburban area and had a small backyard, but she had chickens. She traveled a fair amount for work and had coyotes in her area, so she installed a coop that would keep the chickens safe while she was gone….
Hope you’re having a wonderful week. These past 14 days have been extremely busy for us, and I apologize for the lack of blog posts. Mr. Handsome and I recently celebrated our three-year wedding anniversary. I don’t mean to sound cliche, but these three years have flown by. It truly does feel like only yesterday we were saying our vows and jetting off on our honeymoon….
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is weekend, Mr. Handsome and I visited a local berry farm. We went to pick fresh blueberries because they are in peak season here in Nashville, but we ended up getting a few blackberries and even some strawberries. The season has ended for strawberries, but there were a few stragglers left on the plants, and they were delicious.
Mr. Handsome is a very serious blueberry picker. I lackadaisically walk down the rows and choose the best berries, knowing that others will come along a few days later to pick the “leftovers” once they have grown a little larger. He, on the other hand, positions himself in front of a particular plant and doesn’t move on until he has picked every single blueberry.
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Here on Nashville Wife, I am blessed to have readers from around the world, and I love the different perspectives that everyone brings to the comments section. Many of you know that I was born in Canada, and recently, a few of my Canadian followers asked me to write a post about my Canadian heritage.
I was born in Western Canada, near the picturesque Rocky Mountains. My father’s family came to North America around the time of the Mayflower and spent time in both the United States and Canada before settling in Canada. My mom’s parents were both European immigrants. (I shared the brief version of my grandmother’s story in a post about the WWII book that I’m writing. The project isn’t anywhere near complete, and I think it’s going to be something that I work on over a period of years, but I look forward to finishing it someday.)
Before I entered school, my father was transferred to the United States, and we picked up and moved. We made new friends quickly, but it took several years for me to feel like I truly “belonged.” The U.S. and Canada are two of the most similar countries, with one of the closest relationships and friendliest borders, on the planet. But on the other hand, both counties are also very patriotic and proud (as they should be) of their people, accomplishments, geographical features, and ways of life.
Being raised in the United States by Canadian parents had its challenges, but I now feel very fortunate to be a part of both countries, and I am grateful for the continued, positive relationship between them. During my adult years, I have learned just how unique the relationship between the two nations is and how much more complex things would have been had I immigrated from a country other than Canada.
During my childhood, we visited Canada every couple years, as we have family in almost every major Canadian city. I have been to six of the ten Canadian provinces and none of the territories (although we do have friends who live up there). When I was in middle school, my dad and I took a two-week road trip out West, and my favorite of the many places we visited was the Rockies. For those who have not yet visited Canada, I would highly recommend hitting up Banff and Jasper. You won’t regret it. I love it so much that I took Mr. Handsome last summer, and we both had a blast.
And to the person asking if I am a Tim Hortons fan, the answer is YES. Their Timbits (doughnut holes) are fantastic. Whenever we visited Canada growing up, my mom always purchased a container of Tim Hortons coffee, and my brother and I insisted on buying a large package of the Canadian chocolates that are not sold in the U.S.–Smarties, Coffee Crisp, Aero Bars, and Kinder Eggs (hollow eggs made of a delicious combination of milk and white chocolate that contain little toys for children to put together–outlawed in the United States because they are considered a choking hazard).