Recently I'm

Looking forward to- This weekend! I am so happy that we have a 3 day weekend coming up!!! Eric and I plan to do mostly NOTHING. **smile**

Finishing the nursery- Get ready for some nursery pics to be posted early next week :)

Grocery shopping- I have had to go to the grocery store more times this week. I cannot seem to walk out with the one ingredient that inspired the trip in the first place. UGH!

Putting together- this... These kind of projects make you feel so dumb! But seriously, who can follow those directions?? Eric and I thought we had it all figured out until we tried to fold it back up and bars started falling out of place. I guess our baby will have to wear a helmet.

LOST- Literally. I have watched LOST faithfully for the last 6 years and I have prided myself on my ability to understand and even predict some of happenings on the show. Which is why I am so ticked that I cannot understand what the heck happened!? Were they always dead? Was the island just a dream? If they are dead, when did they die- on the island or in the sideways? UGH! I'm so confused!

Thinking about- Making some freezer meals. Anybody have some great healthy recipes that freeze well?

Not sleeping- It is no joke when they say pregnancy does not allow for sleep. If I'm not up to pee in the middle of the night I'm tossing around in the bed like a beached whale trying to find a spot in the bed that's comfortable.

Buying cute baby things- I just can't help myself! I bought this in blue, and this in Vivienne, and these in brown. Ok those are not for baby but I do love them :)

it's time for another DESSERT! :)

So we just found out that we have "wild" blackberries growing in the empty lot across the street. JACK POT! We seriously just picked like 25 dollars worth of delicious sweet blackberries. Did I mention they are free and right outside my door? Score. So in light of our fabulous blackberry find I decided to make a delicious summery treat for my hubby, myself, and of course baby Hoff :). I love looking at cooking/baking blogs and I recently ran across this one www.joythebaker.com/blog. This blog is full of great recipes and tips. The picture is also courtesy Joy the Baker Blog. I am making it tonight. I cannot WAIT! Enjoy.

click the link above for the recipe

Not my Baby :)

WELCOME EMILY JOY ROZMAN!!!

My older sister Jenn had baby Emily this morning at 7:45am c-section. She is a healthy 8lbs and 20 inches. We are so proud and thrilled to have her in our lives! She is just precious. Her older sister Abbi (2 1/2 yrs old) was so adorable when meeting baby Emily for the first time. She is the cutest older sis I have ever seen! I am so excited for baby Emily and baby Hoff to meet. They are going to be the best of friends! :)

What to Pack?

One of the things my dad says is to "parent with the end in mind". Think of it this way. When looking at a target we all want to aim for the bullseye, but it's not always that easy to hit. It takes focus, purpose, and aim. Life comes at us in all directions often making it very difficult for us to keep our eye on the target. My dad came up with this analogy about parenting that I think is great and I wanted to share with you all.

He talks about parenting being like packing a suit case. The suitcase represents our children and the things inside it represent all the things we want our children to have before leaving our home. Think about the things you want to pack in your child's suitcase. What kind of character do you want them to develope? What are the the things you want them to treasure? How will you help cultivate in them a relationship with the Lord? How will you help encourage their talents? This list goes on and on. On the flip side it can become very easy to put things in our children's suitcase that we never intended. Eric and I decided that we want to start baby Hoff's life "with the end in mind". We already realize how short our time with him will be and we don't want to waste the oppurtunity to show God's great love for him while he is under our roof. We bought this little suitcase as a physical reminder to keep our eye on the target. We want the suticase to serve as a reminder that we are constantly putting things in baby Hoff's suitcase whether we intend to or not. Pray for us as we prepare for this gift from God- that we would continue to remember to keep the end in mind.

Notice the houndstooth pattern on the outside :). For those of you who don't know houndstooth is an essential pattern for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide "Roll Tide!". Sometimes we still cannot believe that we are having a child in the great state of Alabama. Who would have thought? We are obviously embracing it and know that baby Hoff will always have crimson running through his veins no matter where God takes him :).

His first letter from Mom and Dad :)

Happy Mother's Day to you!

Well it's my first unofficial Mother's Day... Happy Mother's day to me :) and especially to my wonderful Mother! I figure I can join in on the celebration since I am growing a child inside me right at this moment.

Here is the most recent pic of Mommy and Baby Hoff on Mother's Day (33 weeks)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

It's MAY!!!!!

*YIKES*
I just realized as I was ripping April off my desk calendar this morning that I am having this baby NEXT month. Woah. I had a mild panic attack and then realized that my due date is June 29th so it's possible that I will have baby Hoff in July. That made me feel better. Although, by that time I may be wishing I would have never wrote those words.

Pregnancy hormones are definitely here. I cry easily about mostly anything lately. Knowing this about myself I stupidly decided to watch the movie "My Sister's Keeper" Friday night. I ended up soaking the pillow I was laying on with tears and ruined the rest of my Friday night because I could not stop crying. Awesome. Poor Eric, I am so up and down lately I don't think he knows whether to hug me or just run away.

Speaking of husbands.... I was talking to my older sister (who is also pregnant and due in 2 weeks) the other day on the phone about pregnancy craziness. Her poor husband has been sick almost a week with Vertigo and has felt awful. She explained to me that she cannot help but be annoyed at him for the HUGE inconvenience of his sickness. RIGHT? She is pregnant and has a 2 year old to take care of- there is no room for sick husbands!!! I just laughed hysterically at how crazy pregnancy can make us! My sister would never say this under normal circumstances. I love sharing pregnancy stories with her, she always makes me feel better :).

Anyone else have some fun/crazy hormonal stories they would like to share? :)

For all you fruit and veggi lovers!

I am happy to announce the beginnings of the "Hoffman Garden." That's right! We've got our own little farm growing right in our postage stamp of a backyard. This has been something Eric and I have been talking about doing for a while and Eric finally just did. Unfortunately, I cannot take any credit for this garden but I am happy to slap my name on it :). Even though Eric did all of the work I know I will be the one cooking and cutting- so it's all relative right? Right. In case you were wondering, we I mean Eric planted the following:

strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, blueberries

green and yellow peppers

yellow squash and zucchini

grape tomatoes and cucumbers

Here are a couple shots of the progress made so far by our cute little plants. By the way, so many analogies about gardening and life so get ready for a GREAT blog post about that. ;)