small pea. BIG PARTY

This past weekend the pea was delighted to be honored at a fabulous party thrown by none other than Auntie Tootie and Aunt Queen.  Boy oh boy was it a party!!  The pea is one lucky baby and we are so grateful for all that went into this big event.  It was so much fun to attend and has also been so much fun to relive with all the pictures. 

The weekend started with Builder and I driving all over STL fitting way too much into a short time frame.  But we got it all done!  Builder's quote for our trips to STL..."36 hours of things crammed into 24 hours".  It is March 25 but we had a white out by mid afternoon in STL.  Yes snow coming down fast and continued into the night.  We did not let the snow keep us from going out and we end the day with a family dinner at Poppy's favorite spot...Citizen Kane's.  The steaks will never let you down...Builder was still talking about it days later.  Sorry pea you had chicken, red meat has not agreed very well and figured it would be best to take it safe on this big weekend!  Despite the weather both Tootie and A made it in from Dallas.  A met us at dinner and we were so happy for her to meet the entire Ott Clan in one spot!!

Sunday was the big day.
Tootie and Queen had been in planning mode for the past few weeks and I could not wait to see what was in store.  They did not miss a detail.  Walking in the door with builder it was a perfect setting.  The bright red and teal colors were so inviting and all the special touches were just so.  The large red balloons set the theme from the street for a small pea, BIG party!! The banner under the window with pictures of builder and I from our baby years was so sweet and so much fun to look at.  I think its safe to say the pea will have chubby cheeks and a big smile!  So fun to think about what the pea will look like.  The food featured my favorites, of course Straub's chicken salad and Clayton's cookies!!  Not a party without them and staples that even are ordered for parties in como.  Queen's house was just perfect and all the hard work that her and King had done looked great. 








I have to go back to the details from the party, you know I love details.  The tables were draped in red and white stripe cloths with big teal bows.  Love me some bows!!  The cupcakes were decorated with Hello Pea messages and everyone wrote a little note to welcome pea.  Tootie had even ordered Cake pops from Cake Walk, they are so cute, so yummy, and I love to see Rachel's business taking off. The red tulips were the perfect touch to match the colors and the flowers.  The gift opening was over whelming and we are so thankful to have such great family and friends.  We could not thank you all enough.  We feel so blessed to have you all in our lives.

One special gift from Tootie, Queen, and Lulu was so fun to open.  You know when you have those items you just really think would be fun to have.  I have wanted this moses basket from day one.  Not sure why but I just loved it.  I loved the look, the idea behind the basket, and of course the Monogram.  It was so exciting to open this special gift.  They had the basket filled with essentials for the pea.  I can't wait for pictures of the pea all snuggled up in the basket.

Thank you so much to A for taking the great photos, what would we do without her skills!  I swear I need to learn but A is so quick and even sent me the fun collages so I could include more pictures.  I was going to upload every photo!!





It was a fabulous weekend that ended with a great drive home talking about all the fun and details of the party.  The car was packed to the brim, barely room for Oh Bother.  Oh Bother missed the party but he for sure made the trip and was so excited to see Tootie!!
Pea is one lucky baby! We can't say it enough we are so thankful for all that went in to this BIG event!!  

March Madness

March madness is among us.....not just with basketball!!  I am not sure where to begin but our March madness has come this week with our Master bath.  I have said that I love to decorate, I have shared I hate carpet and not sure if I have added that I hate tile.  I think its often ugly when you see just a square but then so hard to picture it covering the walls or floor....so I pictured one thing and in a small layout it looked great.  Up on the walls....NOT so much.  I am not one for being gushy in a public forum setting but lets just say thank goodness I am married to the builder.......

Lots of green and Oh bother has no interest in showing off his

The tiling that the builder did all day Sunday was cut out on Tuesday afternoon.  I was part of it going up and coming down but lets say he had to do the hard parts in both.  It just had to go.  It was not flowing and neither of us were feeling it.  We let it soak in Monday trying to visualize the whole bathroom and Tuesday night we were cutting out cement board and tiles that were all just put in.  It was a dusty mess and $ down the drain but I just can't imagine not liking a brand new bathroom.  Its hard to describe in pictures but the blue was intended to be on a main wall with the sinks and then a border around the tub.  We got off when we decided because of the rain shower head that we wanted to tile the ceiling as well.  This moved our border and put the black next to the black.  That was really what I hated but then also the blue just wasn't happening.  So after going back to all the tile places and working until midnight (yes me and the pea were up that late!) we are back on track and both love the new design.  We really did not have to make a huge change just changed out the blue tile and went with a white marble look that will tie it all together and give the right feel and look.  More pictures to come.

Shower Attempt 1

Shower Attempt Number 2 underway

So I am not beating myself up too much as this is the first major mistake in the decorating this house since we bought it.  I should say that's my opinion as I love everything else.  I did forget to add I am stuck with the blue glass subway tiles as they were special ordered.  I still like them by themselves so after it all sunk in I began to ponder what I could do with them.  I love the idea of getting a tub in the hall bath and using them on the walls.  Would be a fun look for what will be the peas bathroom!  Of course this is not on our project list for anytime soon.

With the bathroom back on track we are still working on the kitchen.  More to come in another post on that.  We have the designs back and it looks great!!  Making cabinet, counter tops, floor, and other things that involve tile!!  So far its going!

Pea at almost 30 weeks

We celebrated St.Patty's day with some quick last minute touches to make our dinner green! We have lots of green but food coloring helped out with the food.  It was a fabulous day with highs in the 70s (yes we had snow Monday!) so we enjoyed dinner outside.  Builder then decked out in green headed out to work.  Huge night at work with green beer, lots of basketball, and Missouri plays the late game!! Go Tigers!!

One Lucky Pea

What a fabulous weekend for me and the pea, and builder but this was a girls weekend, there may have been one boy with us but we are not sure until May.  We are so lucky to have the best friends in the world!!  We had friends in from Chicago, Nashville, and Dallas.

Along with friend in town we were so excited that Tootie made a quick trip in from Dallas.  After a must needed trip to Lucy for nails we headed to meet our Dallas friends for dinner.  We went to a new place, Suggos Spaghettieria,  recommended by Court.  It was fabulous but not as fabulous as the company.  We had so much fun laughing and talking.  Our conversations around blogs was the highlight!  It was so much fun to catch up and spend time together.

The next morning was shower day!!  Pea was so excited for its first shower.  The shower was hosted by my closet friends from grade school, high school, and college.  We will call them the Fabulous 5 party planners!!  They did not miss a detail, it was so cute!!  The theme was 'apple of her eye' and it could not have turned out cuter.  As soon as I got the invite that Courtney designed, I was so excited!!  Since the pea is a mystery the color theme was navy and apple green.  Everyone did have to vote on boy or girl ....and girl was the leader....will this be true or false??  Either way the pea was taken care of at this shower.   The shower was at Annie's house and it all looked beautiful.  There were so many fun touches, Auntie Ellen apple butter in jars to take home, apple cake pops made with care by Ray, clothes line of the cutest little outfits, a diaper cake, and of course many more touches that set the perfect scene.  It was so much fun and the pea was sad to say good bye to everyone but can't wait to meet you all in May.  We are so thankful and loved all the thought that went into this party and everything that was given to the pea.  We are so lucky!!

The Fabulous Hostesses

What a great weekend.  It was so much fun to come home and get it all out to show the builder.  He was very excited!!  He kept saying these these clothes are sooo small....it is hard to believe how little we all start off.  We can't wait to meet the pea!!

 A little doc update:  Today we are in the 28th week and we had the gluclose test today.  I will admit from the stories I was worried and freaked myself out ...just a little but as the builder said it was NO big deal.  The drink was not terrible and it went fine.  Results not in but I am very happy it was not a big deal.  My advice as always ...don't listen to others experiences if they are bad.  After the check up our Doc Katie so all looks good!!  Strong heart beat, great growth, and she will start to see us every 2 weeks.

Pea goes to Bahamas

SUN, OCEAN, SAND, POOL, BEACH, GOOD COMPANY, NO SCHEDULE...PARADISE!!

Pea on the beach...26 weeks

Bahamas was a blast.  Builder and I just returned from 5 great days on Paradise Island (that is the name, use to be hog island, you have to hear Builder talk about it like the tour guide!).  What makes it even better is this was a trip I won with work!!  No matter way to spend a Babymoon.  We had a blast.  It started with a night in Ft. Lauderdale.  When we arrived in FL we were so excited to hit the warm weather we rushed to get the flips out of the suitcase, they were on before exiting the parking garage.  We decided to rent a car since we had a few hours and went out to do what we do best, explore.  We followed the sign that pointed towards the beach.  We found the most perfect restaurant right on the beach.  We called it the swing Cafe.  Instead of tables they had outdoor swings with canopies, they were more like gliders.  It was a great way to start the trip!!  We soaked in the sun and the beach.  We of course had to have our toes touch the beach after lunch and then headed to the outlet mall.  You know I say that and knew we had to go.  It was quite the trip finding the place as FL is flat and has small signs.  It did not help that the phone died when we were almost there so we lost our direction lady.  We made it and shopped until we dropped!  Builder and I in an outlet mall is dangerous.  We had so much fun and found great purchases.  I think I fell in love with everything in Kate Spade.  We did make our first diaper bag purchase there...so excited!!  We ended the night at one of our favorite spots, PF Changs.  Yes a chain but for some reason we love it.

Builder in front of the yacht parking, largest yachts ever..soulmates

The next morning was very early, considering we did not get to the hotel until 11 or midnight.  We were up at 4:45 and headed back to the airport for a short flight to the Bahamas.  We arrived in the Bahamas and hit the pool to soak in the rays.  The next few days were an absolute vacation.  With high phone charges and no internet we had no connection to the outside world.  Builder and I enjoyed the time together and exploring the resort.  We stayed at the Atlantis and it was amazing.  Even the room service PBJ was fabulous.  Yes the pea still doesn't always like the good food and we have to resort back to PBJs.  We had a great time seeing friends, going to fun dinners, gambling in the casino, sitting on the beach or pool.  There were so many pools and different beaches that you could go somewhere different everyday.  There were also water slides and a raging river trail.  The pea was not allowed on these so the builder rode alone.  We did get to relax on the lazy river.  We also enjoyed an afternoon boat cruise around the islands.  It was a large sailboat, we enjoyed food, and fun with the other shared services employees. 

Boss and JC at the welcome cocktail hour

One morning we decided to explore off the resort and ride the ferry over to the town.  We had a fun time walking around the straw market.  Not a lot of straw now a days, mostly fake name brand purchase for sale.  We were going to go to the fish row, all the restaurants but decided fish was not on our list of something to eat.  The Kong is the main dish in Bahamas, I did find a Kong in the ocean.  I am not interested in eating one!  Ice cream was a better choice for us!

One of the most memorable things we did on this trip was swim with the dolphins.  This was AMAZING.  I of course was a little unsure, not an animal person but builder was sure that the deep water swim would be better than seeing them on shore.  He was right.  It was an out of body experience.  We swam with them in the water, we had these motorized things that moved us around.  Very nice since it very different to swim with this bump.  We hugged and kissed them...I have pictures!  We also held this board and the dolphins pushed you by your feed across the water.  They could really move you fast.  It was a great morning!!

View of the resort on our boat ride

Pea hit the pool

On our last night we enjoyed ice cream after dinner watching a local parade go down the street.  It was  fun way to end our trip.  We were headed back to CoMo sun kissed.  Builder was a little red but you have to soak it up.  We decided to let up on the sunblock for him the last day and he got the red but of course it will be tan.  With the pea bump and stretched skin I stuck with the sun block.  Still got some sun but controlled!

We had a great time on the trip and can't believe that was our last vacation before the pea arrives.  We are 26 to 27 weeks in these pictures.  The pea bump is growing every single day.  It loved getting tan and being in the sun...I think we will be set with a beach bum this summer!!

Parade in the streets the last night

Dinner on the last night

Night of the main dinner and award presentation

Valentine's Party

A little behind but better late then never! Our annual Couple Valentines dinner was a blast!! Builder and I had as much fun preparing as we did co-hosting. We hosted this year with our friends the Allens. We added many new valentine touches. Everyone wore pink or red, it was really fun!! Builder and I got creative with the hearts and made sure there was a loving touch on everything. Even the potatoes were hearts.  Tootie was our creative artist and we loved her heart touches!!  The drink specials were such a hit thanks to her! It was a fabulous time and the party went until the late hours. The guys were ready to end the night with the casinos....while Jenny (also pregnant, pea will have many friends!!) and I were ready for bed! Look forward to next year and a glass of champagne!

Slicing and making hear shaped potatoes

Builder aka Dessert Artist

largest piece of meat ever--Builder stuffed and prepared

The Hostesses

Some of the girls --pretty in pink!

Final Product with a touch from Tootie

2 Hearts--the Preggers drinks

Au Gratin Potatoes from Scratch

Presenting the Spread--the hosts

look at all the red and pink