At Last!

It's true, we've been MIA for the last couple of weeks, but as I mentioned, lots and lots of activity! Two weeks ago, we drove home to Saginaw for our baby shower at which we received a ton of wonderful things for Baby Torres! Then Cardo's family followed us back to Minnesota last week. It was nice to spend extra time with Yole, Jeff, Gianna, Cardo's parents, Katie, Mollie, Isabella, Alexis and Dawn. We are happy to be home and back into the swing of things and finally, I am able to post. This entry will be fewer words and more visuals as we have a ton of pictures to share! So without further ado:

The drive out along Lake Michigan was beautiful. I had forgotten how blue it is in the UP!

When we finally arrived to Saginaw, nothing sounded better than winding down at the family restaurant, Spencer's! (As usual...)

With the man himself, Uncle Spencer:

With Aunt Katie and Megan:

And the whole family!

The next night was the shower at the Saginaw Country Club. My grandma and Cardo's mom did a GREAT job planning it. As always, they went above and beyond for us and we are SO thankful!

We started with a delicious brunch:


LOVE this picture of Yole, Gianna and Jeff:

With Mac and Marley:

And with the party planners themselves! Grandma Dambro and Mom Torres:

Opening gifts:


Uncle Cardo and Marley:Alison and Marley Styles!:

The next day was Yolanda's birthday! She opted to go to Frankenmuth which is a fun Bavarian-inspired town very close to Saginaw. It might be one of the first times I've been there in the summer, as I usually go in the winter because it is also home to the largest Christmas store in the world, Bronner's! Not only is it the headquarters of the world's only "Christmas Wonderland" as they call it, but it is also home to Zehnder's, home of world-famous chicken dinners. Of course, we had to indulge! Here's the crew in front of Zehnder's:


Happy Birthday Yo!


Later on that week, one of my oldest and best friends Megan and I drove out to Lansing to pay a visit to Mac, Alison and Marley. Loved spending time with my brother's family and wish I could have stayed longer. Would you just look at this picture of my precious nephew falling asleep molded perfectly next to my big belly? It's his first picture with his new cousin!

He's so sweet when he sleeps...He snores almost as loud as a grown man! He's an easy baby to keep track of on the monitor when he's sawing logs like that!

This pic was taken in the backseat with him, he was just riding along staring intently at his favorite aunt. :)

Post-Lansing, Meg and I headed back to Saginaw where I got to spend some time with Grandma Filipiak. She's the cutest ever!

The drive back to Minneapolis was long and brutal, and I'm glad it's the last long trip I'll take before our little girl is born. The next day Cardo's family arrived and we got some good pictures of everyone together. Here's the first picture ever of all of Torres grandbabies all together. That's right, SIX grandaughters!! (Plus, I like to think of it as a good picture of me and all of my nieces together.) :)

Part of the "Minnesota or Bust" crew:

All in all, it was an awesome family and friends-packed couple of weeks. We miss everyone already, and wish that we all were closer to each other all of the time.

In other news, last week's Doctor's appointment went swimmingly. I'm measuring right on, her heartbeat is good, and all of my tests are still normal. The only sub-par thing is my weight gain, which is 30 pounds. The recommended weight gain is 25-35 pounds for most women, and I still have two more months to go! I'm sure I'll end up somewhere around 40-45 which I am totally fine with as I am just not so much willing to give up my sweets! Doc doesn't seem to be too worried though since I started out on the smaller side of my BMI.

Cardo and I attended our first educational class yesterday out of the three that we signed up for. This one was Childbirth and Parenting, and we learned quite a bit! It was a loooong day, from 8-4, but we walked away feeling good about the upcoming labor and birth. Next up, "All About Babies", and after that, "Breastfeeding 101". I'll report back after our attendance of those too.

Here's our 32 week picture after a day in the sun. Without my usual base tan, I have been getting burnt to a crisp lately!

Talk to you all next week!!

Love,
D.