Lemonade Lovin'

Being pregnant is a whole new experience that really, no one can prepare you for.  You hear stories, lots of stories, about how people did things, or how they felt but it affects everyone so different.  That's kind of amazing to me.  I have been very blessed to not have had extreme morning sickness.  What I have experienced is the nausea when I first wake up.  However, thanks to a text from Salem, I discovered the lemonade is my magic get-better potion.  I have consumed gallons upon gallons of Chick-fil-a lemonade and this:

Simply Lemonade with Raspberry.  I cannot get enough of this stuff AND it's just so delicious!  Have you ever had it?  They also have a Mango version too... also very yummy!  I actually have a very large cup of it beside me as I type this post...

How We Told The World...

Benjamin wanted to wait to tell our families after our first doctor's appointment, however the weekend before we were going to be spending time with both sides on different days.  He caved and let me whip up a few things to tell them.

Click here to read:

Pregnancy Reveal: The Johnson Families
Pregnancy Reveal: The Cozad & Beazely Families
Pregnancy Reveal: The Office folks

The night after our doctor's appointments, our dearest friends received texts that said, "Baby Cozad: October 2012.  Is the world ready?" with the picture that was posted here and then again a few weeks later on Facebook.   We called the Grandparents and the Aunts to share the good news with them.

We are making both of our parents grandparents for the first time and my Mom's parents plus Mee Maw great grandparents for the first time.

Our families and friends have showered us with overwhelming exclamations of excitement and joy over the announcement of the new addition to our little family.  We are so blessed by that and know that Wee Cozad will be well loved!

Two delicious things to cook

It had been a while since I had actually cooked a meal.  We had either been going out to eat, munching around the house if we both had big lunches or I'd make a meal in a box.  I just love meals in a box but I don't technically count them as official cooking.  Official cooking is where you have to get out more than one pot or pan.  Where you have spices and measuring utensils, and chopped up this or that.  Official cooking comes out of a glossy cookbook, off of a family recipe card or from Pinterest!

It was one of my Friday's off, which I cannot tell you how much I love, and I decided it was time to try something new.  Salem always has yummy things pinned to her boards, so I went and had a look to see if anything stuck out to me.  We had two winners:

Zucchini Chips from The Naked Kitchen

and

Crusted Honey Mustard Chicken from Weight Watchers

I wasn't quite sure how Benjamin would like the Zucchini chips, but he LOVED them!  Like seriously loved them so much so that he got the serving dish and ate straight out of it.  I think those are going to be a staple in our house!  And the chicken was flavored perfectly with a great mix of tender and crisp!  

What have you made lately that you found unexpected and delightful?

Jewelry Making!

My Mom and Salem are really good about buying deals on Groupon and trying out new things.  As much as I love trying new things, I get a Groupon and then I tend to forget about it until the last minute!

One of the new things Mom and I tried at the beginning of the year was glass jewelry making!  There is a place in Old Town Spring called The Glass Cat where you can take a beginners class to learn how about diachronic glass, how to cut glass and how to piece it together.  Then after that you can go in for studio time to create as many pieces as you like!

Glass pieces to create art with!

 Thank you Mom for a fun night of jewelry making!  Now if only the lady will ever get her kiln fixed...

Well, hello!

Well, hello old friends.  It has been a while, hasn't it.  There are several things I can't wait to catch you up on that we have been doing around Houston - like trying fabulous new restaurants or watching wiener dog races or even going to the Art Car Museum!  Our life has taken a turn for the interesting lately and our routines tend to be a bit out of sorts...something about growing a human that does that to a person... and their spouse!

Baby Cozad!

Expected Date of Arrival:  Mid-October 2012
This photo:  10 weeks and 5 days
Today:  11 weeks and 3 days

I'll be posting updates on how we're doing and plans and all that happiness as we go along!

Pregnancy Reveal: The Johnsons

We were getting together with my family to celebrate my brother's 25th birthday on the Saturday before our doctor's appointment.  Noah had chosen The Grove as the place he wanted to eat.  Since it's downtown, I asked Benjamin if it would be okay to offer the family to come to our house for presents.  This would allow us to celebrate Noah's accomplishment of making it to 25 and for us to be in a comfortable setting when we gave the news.  He agreed, and the family was eager to come down after dinner.  Win!

I didn't want anything to be out of the ordinary or blatantly obvious, so I decided that I would make a little care kit for each both Mom/Dad and then for Salem/Noah.  It included diapers, a bottle, a pacifier, a spoon, a jar of baby food, baby shampoo and powder.  Inside the lids, I had written "Congrats Auntie Salem and Uncie Noahy!" and "Congrats Dharma and PJ!".

A few minutes after Noah completed his gift opening, I said that I had been working on a little something that I wanted to give to both families, but that they were identical and they'd need to open them at the same time.  My heart was beating so fast and I was a little nervous... This was BIG news that they were about to receive!  

As soon as I said go, Salem and Noah both started screaming and laughing!  Mom was a little confused as she was wondering why I was giving them baby stuff...shouldn't Noah and Salem be getting that?!  And then it hit her... WE were having the baby!!  Rejoicing ensued!!

Pregnancy Reveal: The Cozads & Beazleys

The next day we got together with Benjamin's family to celebrate Uncle Keith's 50th birthday!  It's not strange for us to take flowers to Nancy and Brian as we have done that quite a few times in our marriage, so I put together a little flower arrangement with a few decorations to enhance the vase.

We wanted to be sure that Nancy and Brian were in the room at the same time when we brought the flowers in.  A few minutes after our arrival, our opportunity presented itself and Benjamin set the flowers on the counter saying we had brought them a little something.  It didn't take them long to see the bow and again, congratulations ensued!

Since Ben and Samantha were in Dallas, we called them on FaceTime and shared the good news with them!

Pregnancy Reveal: The Office

After our first appointment at the doctor's where we could clearly see our Little Thing, I decided I would tell my co-workers I was pregnant.  But I couldn't just send any old email saying, "Hey, I'm with child!"  So, I wrote up this email to my fellow Hessians:

Title: Doctor's Visit
Message:
Hello All,
I would like to ask for everyone's sensitivity in the next few months.  I have just returned from the doctor and I have been diagnosed with a condition that will cause substantial weight gain in the coming months.  The weight gain will only be temporary, however I will have to live with the constant side-effects of this condition for the rest of my life.  I may also suffer through mild mood swings and extreme fatigue.  Thank you for your patience in advance - it will be worth it because around mid-October a live manifestation of this condition will make its appearance into the world!  Is the world ready for a Baby Cozad???!!!
Thank you,
Sara

Needless to say, minutes after sending the email I was receiving IM's of astonishment and congratulations, people coming to the cube to hug me and then a few folks who called to tell me that the beginning of my email had them worried sick and they were about to start offering help for a serious illness and that it was not kind to play with their emotions!

Bringing Back Cassette Tapes...

It had been a little while since we had hosted a get together for the UT Residents, I was itching to try out my new Silhouette, and Benjamin was really missing his mullet wig... so we threw an 80's Party!

We found an adorable template for cassette tapes in the Silhouette store, bought some neon paper and then spent an evening creating these cuties:

We had a few original toys from the 80's scattered around and our guests brought yummy treats to snack on!

We had our 80's music playlist going all night.  I think we probably have 25.4 days worth if we put it all in one grouping!  Our friends started arriving and their outfits were AMAZING!  Can I just say that we are so blessed with the group of people the Benjamin spends every day with?

We had a prize for the best dressed - A Simon to David, who is pictured above sporting his awesome Walkman.  We also did an 80's Trivia game that covered everything from politics to sports and pop culture, Daniel won that landing himself a sweet Rubix cube!

We wrapped up the night by creating our own version of an 80's rock concert by hitting up the best that Rock Band had to offer!