friday favorites

It's Friday!  We are enjoying every minute of everyday here.  I will have to say being a mom is my new favorite of all time.  Casey and I are giddy in parenthood and can't believe how much joy has entered into our lives, this past week has been truly amazing.  Easton is doing great!  I remember when I was pregnant that I would just laugh out of the blue, I had a feeling he was a funny little guy and that is exactly right.  From the ooohs and ahhhs to the smiles that he makes has us giggling all the time.  I am still writing a post about his birth story which I will post soon.  I have found some great friday favorites for you to enjoy!

My favorite baby brand Aden and Anais
During my P&P time (yes I call it my Pump and Pinterest time) I have found this and this
Love this post from Walk Slowly Live Widly about Bamboo Magazine
Casey found Trunk Club - hand selected outfits shipped to your door, perfect for the guy who doesn't like to shop
40 yummy party appetizers from Southern Living
Best black bean burgers from Daily Garnish
Enjoying Post Punk Kitchen recipes
Valentines Day ideas from BHG

Here are some favorite pictures from our first week!  Easton is enjoying his Grandparents visiting.

My friday favorite

My Friday favorite of all time - Easton James Stopperan arrived 1/18/2012 at 1:10am.  Weighing 6 lbs 10 ounces and 19 inches long. We are all doing well and back home.

honoring soul

It's early in the morning here -The sun is still sleeping while the full moon hides behind the clouds.  I was really hoping to get a glimpse of the moon, but it's been hiding from us all night.  Listening to Bon Iver and drinking my Yogi Raseberry Leaf Tea.  My little tea tag this morning says, "Appreciate yourself and honor your soul."  Which is so fitting at this time in our lives.  My body and soul have been through an amazing journey in 9 months, which I am trying to encapsulate and keep in a pocket of my mind forever.  Casey and I decided last night to take a little break from Facebook and Blogging until Baby E is born.  I know many of you are anxious for his arrival and we love and appreciate that so much!  We've decided to take sometime to appreciate ourselves and honor our souls by taking a break from talking about when he will arrive and just let it happen.  We will let you know when he makes his entrance, until then we are going to enjoy our time together.  Thank you again for your love and support!

XO

inspired

I found a video this morning that is inspiring and wanted to share with you.  I love practicing yoga on my own (it's been a while for a full practice) but soon I hope to get back into my full practice. When I talk about practicing on your own, I usually step into a conversation where someone says,"BUT what do I do?" That's the joy of it - you let your body, mind and spirit take you and guide you through a practice. If you've taken a few yoga classes before you know a couple of poses that you can practice. That's why it's called a yoga practice, it's time for you to connect with your mind, body and spirit to become one. Practicing on your own can be entertaining too! Do you know how many times I have just started laughing at myself, or fall or even stick a pose better than ever and just smile because it made me happy. It's  the pure joy doing something all to yourself   

Enjoy**

friday favorites

Hello Friday - I can't believe you are already here this week.  Excited to write friday favorites this morning not knowing if it will be my last one for a couple weeks or not.  My appointment with my midwife went really well yesterday.  Baby E is doing great and is very happy and we got the go to wait for his arrival naturally so that made Casey and I very happy.

Here are some awesome friday favorites for you to enjoy!
The Vetiver station on Pandora is amazing
Very cool camera simulator
Watched Forks over Knives documentary last night which was awesome!
We also watched over break Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead which we great too
Very cute desktop, ipad or iphone wallpaper
Found a new blog The Happy Hippie Homemaker who has some great baby advice
Vegan Benedict from The Kind Life - looks oh so yummy
Great nutritional post from lululemon
Fascinated by watching this painting be created

Enjoy your weekend and be open to new possibilities!

40 weeks

Today I am 40 weeks pregnant and it's the estimated due date of baby E's arrival.  Even though due dates are really called guess dates (because only 5% of babies actually arrive on their due date) I will always have this date etched into my thoughts as the day I might meet our little one.

Today he is the size of a small pumpkin - it's hard to say how much he weighs or the length that he may be as every newborn is different.  He is developed and in the right position, now we wait patiently for his arrival.  My Doula mentioned to me that with your first baby the average arrival time is around 41 weeks and a day so anytime in the next week I hope to write a little post to you about his arrival.   Until then I am enjoying his little heel pushes as I am sure he is running out of room in there.  He gets the hiccups once a day and at night moves around a lot, I believe trying to get comfortable just like me.  I can't believe 40 weeks have gone by so fast, this pregnancy has been a true journey for me that I will always cherish and love forever.

Now we wait for him to decide when the time is right to enter into the world.  We have a 40 week check up today to make sure he is doing okay.  As long as he is healthy and doing great we will wait for his arrival naturally. Until then I've been working from home and trying to take time out of my day to take walks with Brody, practice my Hypnobabies, take pictures and enjoy these moments.

Will update you soon, thank you everyone for your love, support and patience!

xo

good bye 2011 ~ welcome 2012

Wow 2011 was such an amazing year!  Growing, learning, loving, opening, living, heartfelt, passionate, laughter and many many belly laughs

It all started out with a trip to a beach town called Cape San Blas were we ran on the beach like kids

Springtime welcomed swimming, hiking and many runs

May brought the surprise of finding out we were pregnant 

and a hard time of losing a part of my heart my grandma Ca

Summertime brought many special days at the pool, relaxing on the deck, hanging out with friends and family, hiking, town square parades and concerts, outdoor dinners and a very fun vacation

We also found out that we are having a boy

and then made this little video about the experience

In the fall we took a little trip to Savannah and the Blue Ridge Mountains

and Iowa

November brought our Mom's here for our Baby Shower and we finished the Nursery

December we finished our birthing classes and crossed off our baby checklist in case baby E decided to come early (which he didn't) so we continued on with celebrating Christmas with my dad and little sister who visited us from Iowa.

2011 was an amazing year!  Thank you for reading and supporting my blog, I can't wait to unfold new stories and experiences in 2012!

Belly shots from 2011

and some favorites from 2010