Hey hey!! How are you?! I am writing you from Alaska, oh wait, I mean Ohio- but these days, who would know the difference?

I have been really eager to share about our last few weeks, and finally, I have a free day to sit and write. January was seemingly extra busy, but all good busy. But I may need to take a nap midway through writing this post- we’ll see!

On New Year’s Day, we took our Moose for a walk on the normal trail.

The rest of the weekend was spent prepping for work, getting the house in order after the holidays, grocery shopping, meal prepping and working on the baby registry! I found a helpful registry checklist through Etsy that I used as a guide. I tried to add an item or two a day until the list was complete. I found myself researching everything, so it took a lot longer than I expected, but it was still a lot of fun.

January 4th was one of my favorite days of the month! We had our anatomy scan and got to see our baby girl.

I had no idea they were going to do a 4D ultrasound, so seeing her this clearly was absolutely amazing <3.

There were no concerns found on the anatomy scan, and she is growing right on target! I was more nervous walking into this appointment than others knowing what it all entailed, so I felt extremely relieved, thankful and elated after the healthy report.

DJ and I celebrated the wonderful appointment & seeing our little one by grabbing lunch at Core Life after.

The rest of the week was filled with work, making meals, sneaking in workouts where possible and Moose cuddles.

On Saturday the 8th, we started with Moose’s training school in the morning. The rest of the day was getting the house in order and knocking out things on the to-do list.

In the evening, we went to Papa Joe’s lacomini’s to have dinner with one of DJ’s best friends from growing up and his fiancé. It was a great time!

On January 9th, we took Moose on a walk and then went to my younger sister-in-law’s birthday party in the afternoon. It was a lovely time with family as usual!

When we got home, we both had some stuff left to do for work the next day. It has been one of those months where work has definitely come home with us, but it won’t always be like this.

That week was mostly just the normal grind, but my birthday was on the 13th. I returned home to some sweet gifts and a gorgeous cake from my mom-in-law and Gordie along with the most beautiful flowers from DJ <3. Even though I worked most of the day and figured it would feel like any other day, the evening was so special- reading cards, enjoying some birthday cake and convincing DJ to start Joe Millionaire with me. That show is so entertaining!

Friday the 14th I had off work, and I chipped away on getting our guest room livable for when my mom and Pete came to visit at the end of the month.

That evening, I met up with Rachel at Cantine in Broadview Heights for a girl’s night out doubled as a birthday dinner.

I loved the vibe of this place and can’t wait to go back because the food was so good.

I thought the way they brought my sparkling water out was too fun with the lime and straw. Rach tried their pretty blueberry basil lemonade.

Now this food!!! We tried their arancini di riso. This reminded us both of mozzarella sticks, and they were insanely good! 
I was starving and actually ordered two main dishes. Eating for two and all that? Hah. I had their cantine pizza and roasted chicken. I cannot tell you the last time I ordered chicken at a restaurant, lol, but oh man was it delicious. The pizza was so yummy too.

To top it all off, they brought me out a complimentary dessert since Rachel told them it was my birthday. I savored this raspberry cheesecake!

So fun we can celebrate each other’s bdays in person now that we live so close!

Saturday we had Moose’s training again and then Stanley Steemer came to clean our carpets that afternoon. I had tried every natural cleaning solution under the sun it seemed and still couldn’t quite get the odor out of the carpet from Moose’s early days of frequent accidents. Stanley Steemer uses non-toxic chemicals to clean and DJ saw a billboard for a significant discount- so it was a no brainer to hire them. It was great service & nearly eliminated the odor!

And while I usually don’t go out of my way to celebrate my birthday over multiple days, the festivities continued! I used my birthday this year as an excuse for a date night with Deej. We went to Ken Stewart’s Grille in Akron. 

We had some dishes that were great and others that were just ok- I want to highlight the ones that stood out!

First up was their wild mushroom toast with truffle cream which was out of this world. A must try if you ever find yourself here.

DJ made a great choice in ordering their wedge salad -I tried a bite and see why it’s considered one of their famous menu items.

Now, the star of the show, contender for one of the best desserts we’ve ever had, was their peanut butter bomb served with a par-baked peanut butter cookie, hot fudge and housemade vanilla ice cream. The combo of the gooey peanut butter cookies with the creamiest ice cream and chocolate was unreal. We will definitely be back for this!

January 16th, we soaked up one of the last normal walks we would have for a while unbeknownst to us due to crazy weather on the horizon! The rest of the day was spent meal prepping and planning for the week and reviewing procedures/protocols for work.

A little more about my job- I love it so much. I feel incredibly grateful to be working in this role. I am currently working on a presurgical unit, so in a nutshell, I get patients ready for surgery. Due to the way the surgical schedule works, I can start my shifts anywhere between 5:30 AM-10 AM and I finish up between 2:30 pm and 6:30 pm. I love the schedule, especially on days I get off around 2:30/3 pm. It is an adjustment getting up between 4:30-5 am on many of the days (especially since I can’t drink copious amounts of coffee to compensate), but it has definitely gotten easier since I began. I just can’t imagine having done it in the first trimester of pregnancy, so I’m really thankful the timing worked out the way it did. Life looks sooo different than I would have anticipated this time last year, but I could not be happier. I really think this is one of those times where God knew what was best for me, even though it’s different than what I originally imagined for myself.

January 17th, we had a massive snow storm hit. I woke up realizing I wouldn’t be able to get my car out of the garage to go to work. Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Texas anymore. I ran back up the stairs in a panic waking DJ and Moose up. DJ didn’t have to go into work that day since it was MLK day, so I was able to use his truck to weather the storm. I wouldn’t have made it into work without him that morning- he quickly wiped off the windows and helped dig me out enough to get going in the truck, which he had put into high four wheel drive. I made it to work feeling super safe in the truck with about 3 mins to spare, but the roads were not pretty. I thank God for protecting me and baby girl on that drive. Thankfully on the way home, the roads were much better. That evening DJ spent a long time shoveling our driveway too so I could get my car out next time I needed it. He’s the best.

Hope y’all are staying safe out there!

On Wednesday January 19th, the weather was relatively warm, so I took Moose out to the trail. I actually ended up taking my coat off because I was working up a sweat in the balmy 40-something degree weather trudging through the snow. lol.

Since we had the snowy trail to ourselves, I let Moose loose- and he went nuts! He LOVED frolicking around in the snow. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him so excited to jump around and explore.

 

 

When Moose crashed after playing in all the snow, I took advantage of the quiet time to plan our Baby Moon to Charleston, SC. It’s kind of special I was planning our Baby Moon on this day in particular because January 19th was our dating anniversary, marking 12 years total of us being together!

We went to one of my younger sister-in-law’s basketball games that evening. She did awesome, and the team came home with a win. DJ’s college basketball coach and his wife were there too, so it was really good to catch up with them.

That Saturday, January 22nd, Moose mayyy have dropped out of puppy school. Well to be more accurate, his parents dropped him out. We decided he was trained well enough to function in society… and we really wanted our Saturday mornings back, lol!

That morning, we ran some errands and then met with my mom-in-law and Gordie at Garretts Mill Diner for breakfast. This is easily one of our favorite breakfast spots around! I love their omelettes & they have some of the best thin, tasty griddled pancakes. DJ and I both prefer thinner pancakes over the fluffy ones- curious what y’all prefer more!

That afternoon our nursery chair was delivered! Now that I have the registry done, finished the guest room and most of the rest of the house, I am starting to chip away at the nursery, and oh my goodness, it’s so much fun. I can’t wait for it to be done! <3. When I wrap up these last few projects around the house I’ll do a little home tour.

In the evening, Rachel stopped by with her pup Trotter to meet Moose. She is going to house sit when we go on our Baby Moon later this month, so we wanted to make sure they would do well on Moose’s “territory”. He wasn’t territorial at all & loved playing with Trotter.

That evening, I had a major frosty and french fry craving. I improvised by making a dragon fruit smoothie bowl and some Ore-Ida french fries (the best french fries to make at home, can I get an Amen?). We watched an episode of Joe Millionaire (DJ fully invested at this point, although he may deny it if you ask) and then called it a night!

I will wrap it up here with a part 2 coming soon!! Off to take my nap now 🙂

Questions for you!

• How has the start to your year been?
• What is your preference- thin or fluffy pancakes?

<3,

Mackenzie