Naomi Genevieve Goldsby is HERE!!!

Naomi Genevieve Goldsby arrived December 17, 2010 at 12:20am.  She weighed a whopping 9lbs 6oz and measured 21 inches long.  We had quite a labor experience... but we are both healthy and doing well, enjoying time with family this holiday season.  Check back next week, I will share with you our exciting adventure on how Miss N made her debut into this wonderful world...

Waiting… and Baking

Still waiting for Miss N to make her debut! It is so crazy how slowly time is passing but yet how fast it flew by to get to this point! I cannot believe we are already in December… I think the hardest part of this entire pregnancy has been the last week or so. We are so anxious for her arrival- so patiently waiting to see her, not knowing what to expect! It is a crazy feeling, it is like the anticipation of waiting for Christmas morning but not knowing if tonight is Christmas Eve, it could be tomorrow or a week from today who knows but in the end it will be worth the wait!


In the meantime I have been trying to stay busy. Just this season I have come to realize how much I truly love Fall and the holiday time. There are so many warm feelings associated with this time of year, celebrating with family, sipping hot cider, bundling up in big jackets, and of course eating lots of comforting foods! I love baking and every year I make Spice Bread, and this year I decided to bake many batches of Spice Bread our freezer is full of this delishness. The recipe is amazing and is one my mom found in the newspaper a few years back. Who knows how many times I have had a copy of this recipe and lost it! Although I can remember the main ingredients I always forget the exact measurements and end up calling my mom and having her read it exactly for me to copy again. This time around (the second time I have called her this Fall) I decided I would actually write it in my cookbook and post it online to share with you! Writing this now I am feeling like Martha Stewart but not really, I just thought since we love this recipe so much and it really is so yummy and easy- I would post it for you to enjoy too. Although pumpkin is the main ingredient you really don’t taste pumpkin that much it is mainly for the moistness, you could use apple sauce or another substitute, but pumpkin is very yummy! Enjoy!



Spice Bread

½ 15oz can Pumpkin Puree

½ tsp Cinnamon

½ tsp Nutmeg

½ tsp Clove



2 Eggs (slightly beaten)
½ c Oil

¾ c Water

1 ¾ c Dark Brown Sugar

1 tsp Baking Soda

¾ tsp Salt

1 ¾ c Flour

Preheat oven to 350F. In saucepan heat pumpkin and spices together approx 3-5 minutes until sticky and steamy. Transfer pumpkin spice to large mixing bowl and add water, sugar, oil and eggs. Mix until blended. In a separate bowl mix baking soda, salt and flour until combined. Fold flour mixture into pumpkin mixture, and mix. Pour into desired greased baking tin. Use either 1 large loaf tin or 3 small mini tins. Bake at 350F large loaf for 70 minutes or mini loaves for 50 minutes.

Notes: Recipe easily doubles and freezes well. You can also use the disposable bread tins, either 1 large or 3 minis for one batch. Enjoy!!

December Baby

Wow my unofficially/official due date is here and no baby! Looking back a few months ago I thought for sure she would be arriving by Thanksgiving or at least on Thanksgiving… but nope she apparently has other plans. Holiday babies run in our family, my birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day and my brother’s is on Halloween so it just seemed fitting that my little girl would for sure be born on a holiday too… So far no luck, and checking the calendar though I am not so sure I am willing to wait until Christmas, she must be here before then! ;) So it looks like we know one thing for sure we are having a December baby!

Countin down....

The countdown is officially on 2 weeks give or take and Naomi will be here! I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. I have been so lucky to have such a great pregnancy so far. We had an ultrasound last Wednesday to measure growth and although it is just an estimate she is weighing around 7.5lbs, and we could even see she has hair! I told Phil last night that I am finally feeling pregnant… ;) My belly looks like it is about to pop, I can no longer comfortably paint my toes, the toilet and I are best friends at least 3-4 times at night- not to mention during the day, I am one sleepy chick, I can’t stop making lists of things that need to get done- even though organizing cupboards is probably not that important right now;), I dream about our little one all the time, I am just anxiously awaiting her arrival and I cannot wait! Our hospital bag is packed, her outfit is picked out and ready to go, bottles are sanitized, baby clothes/bassinet/crib sheets are washed and ready, and finally her room is complete everything is in its place all it is missing is a little girl to enjoy it! And now we wait…

Here are some pics of her room.

Left Center Room View



Right Side Room View



Naming Our Little Girl



Picking a name is a hard decision to make… it is one of those forever decisions that not only affect you but another person for the rest of his or her life. When we found out we were having a girl we began discussing names, asking for any suggestions thoughts from family and friends. We knew we wanted something different but not too crazy, something beautiful but simple. After narrowing down our choices we finally came to the decision our little girl’s first name would be Naomi. The middle name however was still up for debate and we couldn’t seem to decide which one was right for her. I kept having issues with what her initials would spell. Having a consonant for the first letter, “N” and a consonant for the last letter, “G”, using a middle name with any vowel was not going to spell anything pretty, N.A.G., or N.U.G., etc so immediately we had to sift through and eliminate any vowel middle names.

For awhile we thought of maybe using my middle name Kendal, but we had not officially decided. A couple months back Phil’s youngest brother Kenton was sharing some names with us when he told us Grandma Pietrok’s middle name was Genevieve… In the back of my mind since then I have been putting the two names together Naomi Genevieve… pretty, beautiful, meaningful.

While driving home from our last weekend with Grandma Pietrok, after she passed away, Phil and I began the middle name discussion again. Genevieve seemed to fit Naomi, perfectly. Sharing her great grandmother’s middle name, I only hope Naomi will be half as strong, courageous, and loving as her great grandmother. Middle names should be meaningful and special… and Genevieve is oh so special to us.

Grandma Pietrok

This last weekend was a sad weekend for Phil and I and his family. Early Saturday morning, we made an unexpected trip to Humboldt to see his grandma Pietrok who had been sick in the hospital for the past week with things not looking good. At first Phil was going to go by himself since I was entering into my 37th week of pregnancy, but I felt I wanted to be there with him, I wanted to be there for his family. Phil was by my side when both my grandpa and grammy were sick and passed away and I felt it was important for me to be there for him and his family during such a difficult time. For such a somber weekend we actually were so lucky to arrive in time on Saturday to visit with his grandma for quite awhile, to just be there. Grandma Pietrok had been battling cancer for quite some time now and it had finally gotten the best of her. In her last days of life she made sure everyone knew how much she loved them and how important they were to her. We knew she didn’t have long and sadly, she passed away Monday morning… Grandma Pietrok was quite an amazing woman she had a strong will and desire and she fought a long hard battle with cancer. She has been an important person in our lives and life without her won’t be the same.




Grandpa and Grandma Pietrok and Phil Our Wedding



Halloween!!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays… maybe because it is my brother Jeff’s birthday and has always been such a fun holiday my whole life. This Halloween weekend we were invited to Scott and Heather’s annual Halloween party in Livermore so of course we had to find the perfect costume! Since I was looking VERY pregnant and I was on the hunt to find the perfect Halloween costume for the occasion! Phil and I almost always do a couples costume, one year we were a mermaid and fisherman, another year Batman and Robin, this year I decided we have to be a Shotgun Wedding Couple! It was great, Phil sported the mullet, hillbilly teeth and tuxedo shirt and I had the homemade veil, fake flowers, wife beater tank, jean skirt. And to top it off Phil carried a shotgun around for the night. It was a lot of fun and I think people really enjoyed our creativity! I have to say Phil is always such a good sport, he never complains and always goes with the flow… such a great guy and wonderful Husband and this Halloween a stunning groom ;)

Izzy the Butterfly

Another trip home...

Family Name Sign half completed...

This week we again made one more trip to Humboldt for a very special Sunday wedding. Our special family friend, Frank, similar to a grandfather figure in my life married his long term girlfriend this weekend during a small ceremony on a drizzly Sunday at their house in Hydesville. Frank has been such an important part in my and my dad’s life… he has been similar to a father figure to my dad and has always been there for my brother and I. From my first houseboat trips to Trinity Lake, BB guns for Christmas, to giving me my first car The Nova, attending our graduations at St. Mary’s, Frank has always been an important person in my life and will continue to be. I was so glad we could be there to help them celebrate such an important event in his life. Together with the help of my dad,(he hammered/cut all the trim around the border) we made a family name sign for him. I have made several in the past and this one actually turned out amazing! Here is a picture of the sign after the lettering was done but before all the trim had been put on.

 

Belly Shots

This last weekend we made another trip home to Humboldt. Phil wanted to be home with his brother for the weekend and I decided it would be a great time for some girl time with my pregnant partner in crime Megan. Megan and I decided we should treat ourselves to a girl’s night so we took our prego bellies to Mazotti’s for a most wonderful dinner and then out to the new Katherine Heigl movie that of course was a comedy about a baby girl… it was fitting for us! We had such a great time. The best part of the evening was before we even left town, I was treated to a special photo shoot by Megan. She had texted me earlier in the week asking if I want to do some maternity shots and of course I was so thrilled I immediately said yes! Megan is such an amazing photographer… she is so talented. I have been watching her photography blossom over the last couple years and this girl seriously has some talent. I envy her in so many ways! Here are some photos she took of me… We drove out to a little field in Ferndale with some neat fallen trees and she captured these images all within only 20 minutes of shooting. I am so thankful I will have some professional images to show our little one when she’s older. After seeing these images it also made me super excited for Megan to photograph our little girl once she arrives… I have already “booked” her during our Christmas vacation ;) and since she is due 4 days before me of course not only will our girls be BFF’s they also will have to have “twin” photos taken of their tiny newborn selves. I cannot wait!

GO GIANTS!!!

Family Photo

On October 8th, we were super lucky to attend the Giants playoff game in San Francisco. Growing up my family has always been Giants fans, it seemed like at least once a year we would make the 5 hour drive south and watch the Giants play, we spent many times at Candlestick and a few at PacBell aka ATT Park. It has always been a tradition to root for our home team and so when my parents had purchased tickets both my brother and I couldn’t have been more excited! Since my parents bought 6 tickets for our family… and my brother’s girlfriend had to work we had an extra ticket, so we invited our good friend Scott. The tickets were actually in 2 sets, 2 seats were together in left field and 4 seats were in right field. All the seats were awesome and the intensity of the crowd at the park was amazing. It was really neat to experience such an exciting time in Bay Area sports history. Although the Giants lost we had a great time! Go GIANTS!!

Baby's First Giants Game ;)

Ultrasound Update

At 30 weeks pregnant our OB ordered another ultrasound to check progress of our baby girl. On September 27, we went in to see another glimpse of her. It is always so amazing to see her arms, movement, and little self on the monitor, every time we have another US, I am amazed and so thankful for modern technology… This ultrasound we got some exciting news, our little girl was measuring big for her age ;) She is already weighing just over 4lbs and was measuring 1.5 weeks ahead of schedule. But not to worry, as I made them check she is proportionally measuring well overall and is healthy! Now we wait to see how fast she grows! Less than 10 weeks and she will be here… time is flying by!

Humboldt Baby Shower


 <><>

<>

<><>

My pregnant partner in crime Megan C. :)

 

Over the weekend, Phil, GranMa, Izzy and I made the trip to Humboldt to celebrate our baby girl. My good friend Mandi, threw me a baby shower at my mom’s house in Fortuna. With the help of Mandi, her mom, my mom, my grandma, it was a great success! Although it was a rainy humid day we had a great turn out and an amazing time, the food was yummy and the company even better. We received so many great gifts and so much love was showered upon us. We are so blessed… and so thankful for all of the love and support we have been receiving.



Diaper Cake made by my mom



Wonderful Hostesses Mandi and her mom and the YUMMY food!





Teaching!

Belly Pic Update :)

The morning of September 1st I woke up to a phone call from the Elk Grove School District Sub Line, telling me there were various openings for substitute teachers. So quickly I checked the web and with Phil encouraging me to take a job I decided out of the 10 options fourth grade at Mack Elementary sounded fun, why not?! After accepting I quickly got ready and headed out for my first job of the school year. When I finally got to the classroom, I was surprised to see the teacher who was supposedly absent was still there. She asked if I was here to take over for her for the rest of the week and maybe more… I was confused and told her I thought I had only signed up for today but would be willing to work longer, as if I had any plans anyway ;). So long story short, this teacher ended up being gone for almost 4 weeks! I had a great time with the students, some days were challenging and by the end of my time, they had spent more time with me than they had with their regular teacher… it felt good to have a classroom even if it was only mine for a small period of time. I will still continue to sub until the baby comes but I am pretty sure this is the last long term assignment I will have for this school year.

Labor Day Weekend

What a busy weekend we had… First off Saturday we made a day trip to the Bay Area and headed to an A’s game with my brother and his girlfriend Cully. Phil had previously won great tickets from a work function and being an A’s fan we couldn’t let them go to waste. We had a great time tailgating before the game with such fantastic weather and the A’s pulled off a win!

The next day we invited anyone who wanted to come out to join us for one last time on Folsom Lake. There ended up being 9 of us total and 3 dogs. The weather was amazing. Since the water level was down pretty low we were able to drive out on the shore right to the water’s edge. Here we set up shop, ate sandwiches, lounged on the raft, let the dogs roam free. I think the dogs maybe had more fun than us. Izzy made friends with 4 year old twin boys who continued to feed her hot dogs! Needless to say at the end of the day she wanted to go home with them and not us. It was a great way to say goodbye to summer and spend some quality time with great friends.

Baby Shower BBQ

• 

 Last weekend we were so lucky to have three of our Bay Area friends throw us a Coed Baby Shower! Sami, Franny, Courtney C, had everything planned out so perfectly and several of our Bay Area friends join us to celebrate. We received so many great gifts, we are truly so thankful for such great friends. The highlight of the BBQ besides of courses the yummy desserts and food was the games. Everyone loved sniffing “dirty” diapers filled with melted candy bars and of course we had “diaper models” decked out in homemade diapers of toilet paper. It was a great time had by all! It really made us realize how our little girl is already so spoiled with so much love!









Jeff diaper sniffing ;)





Franny's Cute Cupcakes

Sami's Beautiful Strawberries!

Phil trying out the Bjorn!

Humboldt County Fair

The Horse Races...

Fair time in Humboldt is always a fun time to come home. Phil and I decided to make the trip back visit with family and friends and check out the horse races. Of course we didn’t win any money on the ponies but we definitely had a great time seeing everyone. I am starting to really show, it was exciting to have people who we hadn’t seen in awhile come up to us and congratulate us on our future arrival… It is crazy to think that this time next year we will probably be home, running around the fair with a 9 month old!

Painting the town... PINK!

The weeks are clicking away at a rapid pace… I am 23 weeks pregnant if we are counting my updated due date of November 29th, only 16 weeks to go! We have a lot to look forward to in this upcoming 16 weeks.

This last week has been busy as usual... ;) Besides painting my heart out, Phil and I went to our third country concert this summer and saw Toby Keith, then we spent Saturday celebrating our college friend Scott’s birthday in Livermore. It was great to catch up with old friends.  Phil represented the Goldsby family well in “Minute To Win It” games. :) Heather hosted a great party!

Hutch Dresser Pic from
Craigslist BEFORE Painting

Sunday was our day to relax finishing up painting the furniture we’ve acquired compliments of Craigslist! However, I thought I better check clist one more time just to make sure there was nothing I had missed or any great finds. While browsing the free ads I came across this ad, “girls dresser and hutch Date: 2010-08-01, 1:44PM; DAVIS, CA: Solid wood, french provincial style girls three door dresser and hutch. Needs refinishing. Dresser is 17 1/2 x 31 Oval unit stands 6' tall.” I thought what are the chances it was still available but quickly I called the number and spoke with a lady who said she had just posted it and I was the lucky first caller! I told her we would be there as soon as possible to look at it but we were coming from Folsom so no sooner than 40 minutes or so. Phil was not nearly as thrilled as I was, he was worried we would drive all the way down there and it would be gone. I told him to suck it up get in the truck, and believe that it will work out. About half way to Davis, I got a call from the lady, I was worried it was gone, we had missed our chance. However, she was calling to make sure we were actually coming because she had received many calls and wasn’t sure if we were seriously interested. I told her our exact location and asked her to hold it, we would be there soon. Upon arriving I instantly feel in love with the dresser/hutch, it would be absolutely perfect for Baby Girl’s room… all it needed was a little TLC and some paint!

Hutch/Dresser Painted and Set Up
 in Baby's Room

The past few days I have been a painting maniac! I chose white with pink accents- careful not to get too crazy with too much pink ;) Of course we bought no VOC (bad smell chemical) paint and with the help of Phil in the evenings we have finally finished all of the baby room furniture. I even convinced Phil to help me set it all up in our extra upstairs room last night. Although we are not completely done decorating, it looks amazing so far… I am starting to get anxious hoping the next 16 weeks zip by. I can’t wait for our little bundle of joy to enjoy her new room!

Bookshelf Painted and Izzy
ready to read some books
to baby ;)

SEW Irresistible!

I am being a slacker… already it is Friday and I haven’t completed my weekly blog update. Oh well! Anyway, recently now that we are not traveling, we have been trying to take advantage of summer in Folsom as much as possible. We were lucky to have some friends visit us last weekend… It was a hot one! We headed to the lake with Tommy and Mandi and def got our fair share of sun and relaxation. Megan and Mikey also came down for a quick visit so of course as usual we did some great baby talking! It was a fabulous weekend at home with great friends…

Amy Butler Fabric for crib bedding

During the week while Phil is at work, I have been trying to keep myself busy. My latest project has been creating Baby Girl’s bedding! I am not a perfect seamstress but I am trying. I am so lucky to have inherited my Grammy’s sewing machine, a few of her lessons from when I was a little girl, and I have been putting it all to good use! It is an older machine but the time it came it was purchased it was state of the art and still works perfectly, in fact I just had it tuned up and it is ready to sew.

Rag Quilt Material

For my latest project, I decided to make my own baby bedding because I couldn’t find one that fit my style. So a few weeks ago while in Humboldt I visited the Itsy Bitsy Quilt Shop in Ferndale and fell in love with some fabulous fabric by designer Amy Butler… after finding out for sure we were having a girl I purchased the material! It is different but I absolutely LOVE it. My plans are to make a bumper, rag quilt, fitted sheets, and basket liners. We will see how it all turns out. So far I have the bumper half way completed (missing the ties still) and all the pieces for the rag quilt cut out.  Now I need to set up the crib to make sure I have the correct measurements! All this sewing has been kind of addicting. In fact I was supposed to leave to meet my girlfriends for dinner one night when I couldn’t pry myself away from creating, I had to remind myself our baby girl will not be here tomorrow I still have 4 months… Back to reality, luckily I called it quits for the day and made it to dinner on time. (But not to worry I was back sewing the next day.)

Even though we still have awhile I am excited to set up the nursery. I feel like I am on a scavenger hunt looking for the perfect little additions to our décor, each time I am out shopping. Already the adventure has begun, Phil is probably secretly hoping I don’t go overboard… I am trying hard not to let that happen but little girl things are SEW irresistible! ;)

Izzy already thinks the crib mattress is her bed!  Here is the 1/2 way completed bumper... now we need to reassemble the crib and make sure it fits!

Humboldt...

Time is flying by so fast already… here we are at the end of July, I can hardly believe I am 5 months pregnant and we are having a girl! Everything seems so surreal… I only hope the second half of my pregnancy is as awesome as the first. Ask me in November, we’ll see if my wishes come true ;)



As for the last few weeks we have been busy! Our second July wedding when Dani and Steve were married was a blast. I even made it onto the dance floor! It was a great night full of great friends.

The following week we had Kenton (Phil’s younger brother) down visiting for the week. We had some fun adventures, a trip to the lake, Dave and Busters, The State Fair, the Despicable Me movie, pizza, and fun! (The pic to the right is at the State Fair Humboldt Exhibit... Phil and Kenton were imitating their furry friend) Of course it was quite hot that week, the day we left for Humboldt it topped out at 105F. But Kenton was a trooper and we had a great week in Folsom.


Last weekend was our last weekend in Humboldt for awhile and our last wedding for the summer. We celebrated Jim and Janelle’s big day. It was a beautiful day at Freshwater Park! Afterward we headed to Ferndale to the Ivanhoe for dinner and Shirley Temples of course! We were glad to spend some quality time with our Ferndale friends, especially my partner in pregnancy Megan C. we had so much fun giggling and sharing with everyone the fact we are only 4 days apart in due dates! It is so great to have someone so close to relate to… And since she is having a girl too, the saying of the weekend was GIRL POWER! Can’t wait to see our girls in action if they are anything like their mommas we are going to have our hands full! ;)

It's a GIRL!!!

Today we found out we are having a GIRL!! Of course during the ultrasound she was stubborn at first and the tech could not get a good view of her but finally almost at the end of our appointment she said, "It's a GIRL!".  We are both super excited and now it is finally a reality... we are having a baby GIRL! As far as names go we are still debating, searching, hopefully we can find the perfect fit.  I can't wait to start decorating, sewing, and shopping for PINK!