Monday, April 28, 2014

Our Virtual Baby Shower

Living in a new country with a baby on the way is hard. Especially when few of your family or friends are nearby. I am so lucky to have a friend like Dianne who coordinated a baby shower for me even being so far away from everyone. Complete with everyone via Google Hangout, decorations, games, presents and cupcakes, it was everything I could have wanted! 
^^Right before the shower, we had our first Sunday lunch since being in England. A's sister and her bf stayed over the weekend and took over the cooking. Plus there's A putting together the decorations.
^^Look at those Yorkshire puddings! So good! 
^^Filling up my plate and loading on the gravy. 
^^Yum
^^Then it was time to set up the computer & TV for the shower!
^^Andrea had fun with Google Effects. 
^^Here's the setup we had, facing the laptop/camera and seeing everyone on the TV. Notice A's cardboard construction to hang up some of the decorations since we have very high ceilings. It worked so that no one could see it except for those of us in the room! 
^^After a quick pregnancy update and baby trivia, it was time for the best part! I bought 5 different kinds of baby food for A to try. He didn't need the blindfold though! 
^^Lol, this may have been the cauliflower & cheese, it smelled so bad. Surprisingly he liked the fisherman's bake which was tuna, corn, tomatoes, etc. gross! I am definitely making my own baby food for Baby Senso! 
^^Next it was time for gifts, and A loved his Baby on Board sign for the car!
^^Checking out some of the gifts, these are the special edition UK Little Princess baby bottles, so cute! 
^^And we took a group screenshot with everyone, though a little blurry! 
^^After our goodbyes, it was time to devour these funfetti cupcakes complete with rainbow chip frosting I've been saving since it has been discontinued. 
^^Goofing around afterwards since A was not willing to pose for any pics. 

Thank you to everyone who joined the shower. 
Baby Senso is already so loved and spoiled and we cannot wait for her arrival!!

If you happen to live far away from a friend and are thinking about how to put together a shower, here is what Dianne included in our virtual baby shower to give you some ideas. It lasted a total of about one hour and included people from 4 time zones from the UK, Italy to Boston & Connecticut & Texas. 
  • The best way to be able to see and hear everyone at the same time that is free is via Google Hangout. You can use up to 10 total accounts. We only had a couple of problems with people dropping in and out, but nothing too major. 
  • Dianne sent me a box full of goodies including wrapped presents, decorations (the onesie garland & Baby Senso garland), and cards with wishes for the baby and words of encouragement. All with instructions on what to do with it all. 
  • Once everyone was in the hangout here was the agenda: 
    • Introductions
    • Update on the pregnancy & baby 
    • Baby Trivia (found here)
    • Baby Food Game for Dad
    • Opening Gifts
    • Goodbyes
  • It was the perfect way to get everyone together and even though we weren't in the same room, it was still a great celebration and would not have been possible without all of the coordination of Dianne! Thank you so much DL! :) 

Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter Weekend & Blogiversary

I don't have many pictures that capture this long holiday weekend, but it was full of good food, one Cadbury Creme Egg, a few visitors, and just a little rain with some sunshine. 
^^We had great Thai food at Thai House here in Chichester to start off Friday night with A's friend Toby. The Pad Thai I had was SO good. The next morning, I made bagels following my favorite recipe found here. This was accompanied with pork & herb sausages, garlic herb cherry tomatoes and a spinach, cheddar & onion frittata. It was all washed down with various kinds of Tropicana, something I've missed while living in Italy! That night we had steak fajitas with guac & salsa, which was inspired by this post
 ^^We visited Arundel castle and opted for the G+ tickets, which gave us access to the all of the rooms of the castle plus the very beautiful grounds. No pictures allowed in the castle though. 
 ^^Since it was Easter weekend, they had some extra stands/reenactments going on. Here is the archery demonstration. 
 ^^He had some great baskets on the side as well 
^^The garden was full of tulips and this very pretty fountain 

 ^^The grounds of the castle's chapel

 ^^Tons of colorful flowers
 ^^I made them pose between the pink tulips :) 
 ^^Today was a leisurely day with a couple other friends visiting that included looking for a lunchbag for A (since I make his packed lunches now) followed by lunch at the pub, The Fox Goes Free, which I think is our new favorite. 
 ^^A very peaceful view with lots of sheep and little ones too!
 ^^Delicious food and beer according to A. His ribeye
^^and my chicken. Plus the keys to our first family station wagon in the background. 


OH and I had a look back at the first post I made and realized it's the....
of thesensos.blogspot.com! 

Can't believe it's been a year since I started this blog. There has been so much that has changed since then, but we are so happy to start our new little family here in the UK and to continue updating everyone on how everything is going! 

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Week 34


How far along? 34 Weeks, 6 Days
Total weight gain: A little over 13 kilos
Gender: Girl
Sleep: The same as before, just getting up maybe once a night
Best moment this week: That's a tie between the Thai food I had the other night and a successful DIY tassel garland for the nursery
Miss Anything?: Having more energy and fitting into my old clothes. I have an entire suitcase I left packed up of all the clothes I can't fit into anymore.
Movement: Yup, she was very active yesterday, kicking and squirming non-stop. I think she's having a lazy day today :)
Food cravings: Chocolate all the time, in all forms. I have my Cadbury creme egg saved for later today. Plus bread, any kind, I love that there is so much variety of whole wheat everything here - pitas, english muffins, regular sliced bread, etc.
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? Outie
Wedding rings on or off? On still
Happy or Moody most of the time: Not too moody I don't think, just getting irritated sometimes when I'm tired.
Looking forward to: My virtual baby shower next week! My sis sent me a box of funfetti and I have some rainbow chip frosting stocked up so cupcakes are definitely happening for it. Plus, I'm really looking forward to organizing all of the baby's stuff. A and his friend Toby put together the crib and dresser last night so now it's time to decorate and get everything organized.

The sofa we ordered is arriving at the end of the this week so I hope to share some pictures of progress on the new place soon. Plus we finally have a landline and wifi set up so I can blog some more. Notice the header is updated and I'll try to do a quick recap on the long Easter weekend as well!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Week 32

Chalkboard is back, though i'ts not the best one I've done since I'm lacking inspiration and had to rush to finish it before A had to go watch the F1 race. Header still not updated, will get to it eventually.

How far along? 32 Weeks, 6 Days
Total weight gain: Up about 13 kilos
Gender: A little girl
Sleep: It's so difficult to move from one side to the other in bed, but other than that, I've been sleeping pretty well. First night in our new bed last night was very comfy.
Best moment this week: Satisfying my food cravings - see below
Miss Anything? Walking without waddling
Movement: All the time
Food cravings:
Part 1: Pepperoni Pizza  I gave in finally and had a pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut. I was slightly embarrassed walking towards the entrance, but when I got home and took a bite, it was incredible and exactly what I was craving for so long. *Note: I probably haven't been to a Pizza Hut since I was little  and normally would never get pizza from there!
Part 2: Hot Fudge Sundae! I had the sudden urge for a hot fudge sundae and A didn't even know what I was talking about! I made him google it (he spelled it sunday) and then I tried explaining, "no it's not just hot chocolate sauce or melted fudge." I figure at least England being more similar to the US than Italy would have it so we try the supermarket, no hot fudge in a jar, just chocolate sauce. Next, we end up at the McDonald's drive-thru across the street and it went something like this:
A: "What kind of sundaes do you have?"
McD's: "Strawberry & Toffee"
Me in the passenger seat: "Whaaaat, how do they not have chocolate!" Starting to rant about how they have it in America.....
A: "Ok, what kind of McFlurry's do you have?"
McD's: Cadbury Creme Egg, Flake, M&M, Oreo...etc. 
Me to A: "Ahhh, I don't know, I don't want anything then, back out of the drive thru! How do they not have chocolate sundaes....rant rant....ahhhh order a cheeseburger" (out of panic) 
A: "Ok, I'll have a cheeseburger then."
McD's:  *Laughing* "Just a cheeseburger?"
A: Uhh yeah. Thanks. 
Me: Crying and laughing as A takes the single cheeseburger. All I wanted was some hot fudge. 
I didn't even want the cheeseburger, but A being the good husband that he is, took one for the team and ate it for me. The story continues since I couldn't kick this craving - I google "Hot Fudge Sundae Chichester" and then remember there's a Baskin Robins in the movie theater nearby. Yes! I know they'll have it and they do! Except, it was 10pm and they were already all closed up. Sad and hot fudge-less I told A we had to come back tomorrow and went home to a bowl of shredded wheat with skim milk, cinnamon and a banana. The next day, the craving was satisfied :)
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? Flattened
Wedding rings on or off? On, but a little snug at times
Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty happy since moving probably because everyone is so pleasant and nice here!
Looking forward to: Working on Baby Senso's nursery. We bought her a sheepskin rug that is so soft.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

A Little Update

^^Sorry for the lack of posts, the picture above is a glimpse at what my life has been lately. Between having no internet or cell service at the new place (thank goodness we are at the vacation rental for a couple more days in the meantime), furniture and home shopping plus unpacking, I feel like there has been so much to deal with.

I've been wanting to update everyone on what it's like here in Chichester and how everything is going, but to sum it up: everyone is so nice here, the supermarkets are great, there are plenty of cute restaurants and stores, and it just seems like a very nice area to raise a family. Pleasant is the word to describe it. I'll do some more detailed posts in the future, but here are a few pics of the new place (a little bit of a disaster due to so much unpacking and waiting for furniture to arrive)
 ^^Andrea's job of putting the bed together. A king size here seems so small by the way! 
^^I like to call this the vacuum shrine. We bought a Dyson, it's amazing. 
 ^^Finally, finally, an open kitchen!
^^The bathroom even had a bow on move-in day and the landlord gave us a nice card giving us her well wishes. 
^^The very beginning of little Baby Senso's room. I was testing out the stroller again and pushing it around the house :)