Weekend Recap

This weekend was awesome. I can’t really put my finger on the one thing that made it so great, but let’s just say that it was.

Saturday morning Hugh and I got up and decided that we had some stuff we needed to get done. It was a beautiful day so we stopped at Firehouse Subs (my latest addiction) and took sandwiches out to the park to eat. It was gorgeous and warm with a little bit of a breeze, just perfect for sitting outside to eat a delicious sandwich. We ran by his parent’s house and picked up his grandmother’s sewing machine. I’ve decided that I want to attempt a few projects that will require me to learn some basic sewing. Yikes! We’ll see how that goes. After that, we ran to Lowe’s and spent an hour picking up random things we keep forgetting to get.

We had dinner Saturday night at The Backstreet Café with some friends. It was DELICIOUS! We had a good time visiting with friends and eating yummy food. I had goat cheese stuffed chicken that makes my mouth water right now, just thinking about it. Oh, and the warmed chocolate cake with raspberry sauce, ice cream and candied walnuts wasn’t bad either.

I woke up Sunday morning to the LOVELY smell of bacon. Hugh had gotten up and made me bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast. YUMMY! It was very sweet of him and I appreciate it so much. He’s very good about doing little things like that for me. Hugh spent the morning painting the ceiling in the nursery. I’m shocked at how much brighter the room is after he painted. I cleaned house and we settled in just in time to watch the Texan’s. Sadly, they lost but we enjoyed hanging out and watching the game.

Hugh and I both had Monday off from work, and we decided to take advantage of the crazy weather. It was almost 80* in the middle of January! What’s this craziness about? We ate lunch at a place called Park 10 Café where we both had very good burgers. They make their own break, so if you’re ever over at the I-10/HWY 6 area, you should stop by. We headed out to Terry Hershey Park (where we typically ride bikes) and we sat out on a blanket and spent time reading and relaxing. Then, we proceeded to walk somewhere between 4-5 miles. It was fun, but different. I’ve really struggled with adjusting my work outs to be more pregnancy-friendly, but we both enjoyed the walk and the scenery.

What did we do last night? Oh yeah…we READ some more (I <3 reading) and watched some of the Always Sunny in Philadelphia marathon.

Throughout the weekend Hugh and I spoke about how things are going to be different when the baby gets here. We probably won’t have many weekends where we both get to sleep in and then take the time to make bacon and eggs. We most likely won’t get to go to the gym together every evening or decide on a whim to go pick up lunch and eat outside. We both realize that things are going to change (for the better, but still different) and that we’ll be leaving this portion of our relationship behind. The two of us will become a set of three and we’ll enter into parenthood. I think it’s important for us to have weekends like this where we simply do what we want to do and have a great time. They may happen less often in the future, but we’ll appreciate them no matter what. I’ll cherish the memories from the weekend and I look forward to making many new memories.

It was a spectacular weekend.

The McCrea house is growing!

We’re having a baby!!

YAY!

Hugh and I are thrilled to announce that we’re expecting our first child in June. My official due date is 6/10/12, one day before our anniversary and three days before my birthday. I’m currently 10 weeks along and doing well. Hugh and I were able to see and hear the baby’s heartbeat at our appointment when I was 7 weeks along. My heart rate was 77, the baby’s was 154 and on the ultrasound our little June bug looked a bit like a dinosaur.

We told our families this past Saturday at a lunch for Hugh’s birthday. I’d ordered a little onesie that says “PSU Tiny Lion” on the front and “McCrea” with a number 1 on the back. Hugh opened it as his last gift. Everyone was surprised and excited for us. We’ve decided to not find out the sex of the baby, and I think that makes it even more exciting.

Kudos to Maegan for taking such a great picture!

One thing I must say is this: Hugh has been hands-down the best husband ever. He has been so supportive and sweet. I’ve been very sick with this baby for the past 7 weeks. He’s done everything! He’s cooked, cleaned, made me grilled cheese sandwiches after he’s already made a meal that I suddenly can’t stand the smell of. There has been no limit to his kindness and understanding. I had to sit out of a 10k obstacle course race that I’d been looking forward to for months and I literally sat on the floor and cried about it. For an hour. He just sat there holding me and telling me that he’ll run it with me next year. I love him so much and I’m very thankful that I’ve been blessed with such an incredible partner in life.

I’ve had a bit of a hard time adjusting to pregnancy. I guess I just had this thought in my head that I would deal with it like I deal with everything else; take it in, process it, compartmentalize it and then go about my usual life. Umm, not so much. First off, I’ve been exhausted. I’ve discovered this entire new level of tired that I didn’t even know existed. I would come home from work with dinner plans in my head and my work out planned out and I wouldn’t make it past the couch. I would just lie down and pass out. Then, I would wake up and Hugh would try and make me eat dinner. Here’s a recap of about 300 conversations that we had:

Hugh: “What do you want for dinner?”

Jenn: “Nothing. I feel nauseous and I didn’t make it to the gym. I don’t need calories at the moment.”

Hugh: “You’re going to eat dinner. The baby wants to eat.”

Jenn: “Did the baby tell you that?”

Hugh: “You talk too much. What do you want to eat?

Jenn: “FINE! Grilled Cheese.”

Hugh goes into the kitchen and begins to make grilled cheese. Jenn sits in a chair and watches.

Jenn: “You’re making it wrong.”

Hugh: “No, I’m not.”

Jenn: “I’m not eating that.”

Hugh: “Yes, you are.”
Jenn: “Fine!”

Jenn then proceeds to eat the entire grilled cheese.

Jenn: “Thank you for making me a grilled cheese. We’re going to have to discuss how we’re going to teach our child how to properly make a grilled cheese.”

Hugh: “You talk too much. Now you can go back to sleep.”

Isn’t he amazing? I would have left me a long, long time ago.

The other adjustment I’ve struggled with is my work out routine. Because of my asthma, I’m being treated jointly by my regular sports medicine physician and my OB. Originally, my OB told me that I needed to keep my heart rate under 140 when I work out. That pretty much means that I have to spend my entire time at the gym on an elliptical climber. BORING! My other Dr. and my OB discussed this (he basically explained to her that I would go nutso if I was that restricted) and I have much more leniency with my work outs. I still can’t go to spin class, or ride my bike but I’m much happier being able to lift weights and swim to my heart’s content.

We go back to the doctor on November 22^nd, where we’ll have first trimester screening ultrasound and a check-up. I’ll post more when we know more!

This is my ultrasound from when I was 7 weeks and 3 days along. The baby looks more like a dinosaur than anything else to me.

Until then,



Happy Anniversary!.....Belated, that is.

I realize that it’s almost two months late, but I wasn’t exactly in a location where I could blog on the actual date. So…..here’s to “Better late than never.”

June 11, 2010

Hugh and I got married in Rincon, Puerto Rico. We’d vacationed there a few years prior and fell in love with the place. Rincon is considered to be the lazy side of the island. It’s full of hippie-type locals and wealthy Americans that no longer want to pay U.S. taxes. Hugh and I stayed at a wonderful B&B called Tres Sirenas. It’s a gorgeous two story white stone house that seems to have been taken right out of the fictional Pottery Barn: Caribbean Edition. It’s literally right on the beach, has a great pool and best hosts that anyone could hope for. We talked often about how we’d love to get married there someday.

Fast forward to the night Hugh proposes. We’d been eating an incredible dinner (prepared by us) of grilled filet and homemade mashed potatoes when Hugh jumps up from the candlelit table and says, “I’ll be right back.” He then took off upstairs bypassing the downstairs restroom. I recall thinking to myself, “Really?? Why do men need to poop so often?” A few moments later, he comes downstairs where he proceeds to get down on one knee and asks me to be his wife. We celebrated by opening an expensive bottle of wine that we’d been saving and in our excitement, we drank the whole thing. To this day, that was the best wine I’ve ever had. As we were sitting on the floor in the living room that evening we talked about how all both of us really wanted was to get married at Tres Sirenas. We knew that it was unconventional and that people might think we were crazy, but it was how we wanted to get married.

Hugh and I knew that we wanted a small, informal wedding. We were ecstatic to be joined by our immediate families, two of Hugh’s aunts and uncles, and his Grandpa John. We asked Hugh’s Aunt Anna if she would be willing to become ordained and officiate the ceremony. She not only agreed, but she did the best job that either of us could ever imagine. We found a photographer online, and were referred to a private chef, Chef Pedro the “Organic Surfer Chef” by the owners of the B&B. Hugh and I met with the chef two days before the ceremony and hammered out a final menu. We rented tables and chairs on our own, brought our iPod with a great playlist, purchased alcohol at Sam’s in P.R., and located a woman to do hair for me and my sister, Chelsey. Hugh and I did all of the planning. We bought three dozen roses at Sam’s and my mother wrapped the stems for us to use as bouquets. My mom and I took a trip down to Harwin and bought tablecloths and chair covers. We cut Michael’s coupons for weeks so we could buy vases and such to use as centerpieces on the tables. My sister got her dress at Dillard’s and I paid just under $400 for mine. I guess what I’m trying to get at is this: We did all the planning on our own and it worked! We didn’t need to have a so-called “Platinum Wedding”. This was what would make us happy. Even when Mother Nature decided to play….

Now, where was I? The day of the wedding dawns and preparations start being made. At breakfast, the proprietor of the B&B approaches my mother to let her know that there’s been a death in their family and that they are going to have to leave the property. It was a sad situation, and the poor woman was worried that I would be upset. (Seriously? Who am I? Bridezilla?)  Around noon, the power goes off. With Puerto Rico being an island, they tend to get random power outages. Typically, they last no more than 10 minutes. Well, I was supposed to get my hair done at 2:00, but at 1:45 the lady calls me and says that she doesn’t have power at her place so she can’t do my hair. She tells me not to panic (I’m not panicking, I promise!) that we can wait until 4:00 and she can still have my hair done. Then, it starts to storm. NO BIG DEAL. It’s the tropics in summer. This is a common occurrence. Usually it rains for about 30 minutes and then it’s nice a cool afterwards. Um….this time….not so much. At 3:00 the stylist calls me back and says that she found a place with a generator so she can do mine and Chelsey’s hair. We leave and go get prettied up. In the rain. The pouring rain.

Chelsey and I arrive back around 4:30. Note: The wedding was supposed to take place between 5:00 and 6:00. We were aiming for around sunset. The rain is coming down and the power is still off. The chef has arrived and is confident that the power will come back on. However, he had brought a large wok that connects to a propane tank as a back-up plan. He tells me to relax. I’m relaxed and not worried at all. I simply walk on by and upstairs to the room where my mom, sister and I were going to get ready. My sister did my make-up for me, and she did it in the breakfast nook with only sunlight. Oh, did I mention that it was over 90*?? And that Chelsey was 7 months pregnant? The photographer was there taking pictures non-stop and suddenly, it stops raining! The sun was peeking out from the clouds and I can hear Hugh and everyone else running around like crazy downstairs on the pool deck setting up chairs and tables. My Dad was all dressed up and squeegging off the patio. Hugh might have been yelling a little. Not really at anyone in particular, but I recall hearing him say “THIS IS GOING TO BE PERFECT DAMNIT!!”

I ended up getting dressed in the semi-dark, my poor mom lacing up my dress while her hair is still wet from her shower. My brother Brandon comes upstairs asking where we’d hidden the scotch because all the people downstairs have decided that Hugh needs to relax a bit. You see: Normally, I’m the high anxiety person in our relationship. I freak out about everything. Yet, on our wedding day when all of this crazy stuff is happening I’m the relaxed one and poor Hugh’s attempting to have a stroke. He was so worried that I was going to be upset, and he wanted to make sure that I had my “perfect wedding day”. That makes me smile as I write this. You see; to me none of the trappings make the wedding day. It’s simply the part where you stand up and pledge your love to each other. That’s all that matters. The rest is simply icing.

All at once it’s time to go. I walk down the stairs and wait with my Dad as everyone else runs down to the beach. I’m perfectly calm and ready. My dad has a tear in his eye, but he’s smiling and telling me that I’m beautiful. We step out onto the beach (and around the corded off nest where the sea turtle decided to lay some eggs) and begin the walk down aisle. The rain made everything look bright and beautiful and the sun was peeking out through the clouds. Hugh was BEAMING at me. I felt so beautiful and loved at that moment. I cried during the ceremony and Hugh got a little teary eyed. Aunt Anna pronounced us married and we were both so happy.

After we took pictures we had some appetizers and drinks. The chef made a four-course meal for 19 people on a WOK attached to a PROPANE TANK. Can we say amazing chef?? The lights stayed out and we actually ate in the dark. Ok, it was pretty dark but we did have some candles and we played pass the flashlight. The food was delicious, and right about the time dessert was being passed out the lights came back on! Everyone cheered and then immediately took off running for the rooms to turn on the a/c’s.

Hugh and I have a great wedding story. The best part happens to be the part I left out. Our vows. We wrote them ourselves and I know that I was touched beyond words. We live out our vows to each other every day. This doesn’t mean that we don’t fight, but we do love each other dearly and we are genuinely friends. I feel like this makes our relationship very strong, and I know in my heart that Hugh is the one for me. 

I do want to say that there would have been no wedding at all if everyone hadn't pitched in an helped. Hugh and I are so grateful to have such wonderful family. Everyone worked on some aspect of the wedding. Decorating, Cleaning, organizing, etc. It was wonderful because we had such great people helping us.

                Aunt Anna and Uncle Paul gave us a wedding scrapbook that they prepared for us before they came. She had typed out the ceremony on beautiful stationary and she’d even included the cute reading that my brother Jordan read and the poem that my brother Brandon read. Everyone at the wedding wrote a small card to us and she included the small papers that we’d written our vows on. It’s the most precious gift and I’ll cherish it always.

 Makeup by sunlight!

 Too may laces, too much heat! Thanks Mom!

 I loved my hair. The orchids were from a plant hanging by the door of the B&B.

My dad and I starting to walk down the aisle. Notice the turtle warning sign. :)

 Wedding kiss! So romantic. 

 My parents, crying.

 Walking back down the aisle as husband and wife!

 Group photo!

Grandpa John. He's 93!

Hugh- I love you.

Love,

Newlyweds!!

“Oh…I forget, you’re newlyweds. That’ll stop soon.”

“Just wait until you’ve been in a relationship as long as we have and then things will be different.”

“Real life will set in one day, and then you won’t do that kind of stuff together.”

AAAGGHHH!!!! I can’t stand this type of negativity. It’s almost like people can’t stand to see happiness and feel the need to try and squish it like a bug. Why is that? Sometimes it feels like there’s some big contest and the people that have been in relationships the longest “win” by telling other people how crappy life gets to be. What’s the deal? Is there some sort of prize for doing your best at trying to bring other people down?

I realize that there are many things to learn from experience. I know that relationships change and things that once were new and exciting can become old and routine. BUT, I don’t think that relationships have to get boring. They take work and care, but they CAN be awesome!

Alright, I’ll get off my soapbox. On to something that I’d like to share!

Yesterday afternoon I was on my way home from the gym when I had a sudden random thought. I called Hugh to ask him about it. Here was our conversation:

Hugh: “Hey, what’s up?”

Jenn: “So….at what point in my life do you think I’ll stop wanting to eat french fries? I mean, I realize they’re bad for me but they’re just so dang good.”

Hugh: “Oh. I don’t think that’s something you’ll ever stop wanting. You know, since they’re so delicious.”

Jenn: *sigh* “That’s what I thought. Love you, bye!”

Notice that he didn't even ask why I was calling simply to ask about french fries! This is one of the reasons why I love him so much. He gets me. I got home and proceeded to make our favorite tomato almond pesto for dinner. I’m working and suddenly, Hugh walks in with a bag of fries from McDonald’s and a smile. They were amazing. I can’t even recall the last time that I’ve actually had fries, but these were the best ever. I love that he does stuff like this for me. It makes my heart happy!

I guess my point about all of this is that it shouldn’t matter if you’ve been married 5 days or 50 years. It’s all about being thoughtful and caring about your spouse. I love my husband, he’s my best friend. AND…if you want to try and rain on my parade please understand that I’m not above violence, retribution, or just petty revenge. (insert evil laugh)