Paul Xander Yopp

Last Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 8:16 in the evening, my and my and Paul's lives changed forever. We welcomed our perfect little boy, Paul Xander Yopp to the world.

Minutes old and meeting daddy. 

12 hours old

Our first family picture, taken just  minutes before he turned a day old.

1 day old. He liked the paci, but wanted to old it in place. 

2 days old, wondering if this "daddy" guy is the same guy he's been hearing for the past few months

3 days old and getting read to go home...and improperly strapped in his seat. We fixed that about 2 seconds later. 

First night at home. Ginny is already a great big sister. 

4 days old. He loves his swing and soft fabric like his changing pad cover and this blanket

Stay tuned for baby boy's birth story and, of course, more photos.

What I've Been Up To

I know, I know, I've been away for...forever. But I have a good reason. I swear I do!

You see, I've been really hard at work on a few of the items on my 30 Before 30 List.  And okay, there's a couple that I completed quite a while ago and I just forgot to update.

Go to a Drive-In Movie

On Halloween I went to my first drive-in movie.  Paul and I grabbed Ginny, hopped in the car, and took off 30 minutes down the road. Our first stop was Cook Out in Radford for greasy burgers and delicious milkshakes, then we doubled back to Christiansburg for Starlite Drive-In Theater to see a truly awful '80s horror movie. I think it was Friday the 13th Part 78, or something like that. We got lost on the way because we took a right when we should have taken a left, so we didn't have the 3D glasses that we needed, but it was still fun and we liked watching how confused Ginny was that we drove somewhere just to sit in the car.

Get Paul a Gift That He Really Enjoys

I've always prided myself on being a decent gift-giver. And then I met Paul. My gifts to him always seemed to fall flat. He likes accessories for his guns and I don't understand any of that stuff  and would inevitably get the wrong thing. So I vowed that this past Christmas would be different. I got him a Play Station 3 because he said he wanted it and a couple games that screamed his name. But it still didn't seem right. I didn't have to put much thought into it and it didn't seem very personal. But one day I was walking in downtown Roanoke and I spied with my little eye this gem through a shop window.

Paul was in a fraternity in college and the song Country Roads by John Denver was a big thing for them, so I knew I had to get it for him. I was most excited about this gift, so when we opened our gifts at 12:01 AM on Christmas Eve (per Paul, "what, you didn't say we had to wait until Christmas Eve night), his reaction was exactly what I was looking at. He looked shocked and happy and a little emotional. It was a winner for sure.

And that's it for the items on my list that I've been able to mark off. Like I said, I've been hard at work on a couple others.

I'm in my final semester of grad school and in August I'll graduate from Florida State with my master's of library and information science. Then I'll be able to apply for my license to be a librarian and hopefully soon after I'll find a position in a library.

Just before Christmas I really buckled down and started working on my goal to fit back into my wedding dress. I was doing a great job of exercising daily, eating right, and generally creating a healthier lifestyle. I was tracking my progress using My Fitness Pal and lost 10 pounds pretty quickly. But in the first week of January I had to pump the breaks.

Because the last and most important thing I've been working on is...

That's right, becoming a mom!  Please ignore that typo of 2012.  I blame pregnancy brain, which I have come to learn is TOTALLY A THING! I have been the flightiest thing ever over the past 7 months.

On January 5 I got a positive pregnancy test, but of course I didn't believe it. I have polycystic ovary syndrome and I was under the impression this was going to be a really difficult journey because that's what I've been told since I was diagnosed when I was 19. I started taking Clomid, a drug that helps the body ovulate, and using ovulation predictor kits in September. And the Clomid didn't work. So they bumped the dosage and I took it again in November and again it didn't work. They bumped the dosage up again in December and also told me that this was the last increase they would make before sending me to a specialist. Needless to say, I didn't have a lot of faith in the progress. But this time something different happened. The ovulation predictor kid told me that I ovulated. And of course I didn't believe it.

So imagine my complete shock when I saw the plus sign in January. I started to cry, walked into the guest room where Paul was talking to his dad on the phone (and promptly hung up with a "uh...I have to call you back"  when he saw my face and what I was holding), and I said something along the lines of, "how did this happen?" Like I hadn't been conducting a science experiment with my reproductive system for the past few months.

But I still didn't believe it until I went to the doctor the next week for a yearly exam.  The following conversation took place:

Doc: Is there anything new with your health?

Me: Well, I think I might be pregnant?

Doc: Did you take a test?

Me: Yes.

Doc: Was it positive?
Me: Yes.

Doc: Well then you're pregnant.

Me: I'd still like professional proof.

Doc: The test we do is no different from the one you took.

Me: I'd still like professional proof.

Doc: Okay...

The first trimester was smooth sailing until around 8 weeks. That's when I started getting morning nausea. I'm hesitant to call it morning sickness because I never threw up. I just felt like I was going to every day until I got a good, filling breakfast in me. And that, by the way, is hard to do when you feel like you're going to vomit.

When I moved onto the second trimester the nausea went away and was replaced by numbness and tingling in my hands at night. It turns out I developed pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel which I didn't even know existed. The good thing is that it doesn't bother me during the day and I only have to wear a brace at night to keep the pain manageable while I sleep. It was in my second trimester that I was really ambitious and decided I was going to document my pregnancy in a really cute way. I was going to do the thing where you take a picture with the fruit or veggie that is the same size as the baby.  This is 15 weeks when Baby Yopp was the size of a naval orange.

And this is as far as that little project went. The next week I bought an avacado. The picture was never taken. Something tells me that won't hurt the baby's feelings too much because...

At 20 weeks we had our first really detailed ultrasound and found out that we're having a boy!  And do boys ever care about things like that? Say hello to Paul Xander Yopp, but he'd prefer if you call him Xander.

 

I'm going to be honest.  Seeing his tiny profile was the first time that I really felt pregnant. At this point I still wasn't showing at all. My hips got a little wider so I had to move up to maternity pants around week 15, but the outside observer would have had no idea I was pregnant. I didn't really notice any changes until around 25 weeks and I got really excited about it.  And that's when my husband asked me when I'm actually going to look pregnant.  As you can imagine, that didn't go well for me and my hormones.  Since then I've been gradually filling out a little more  and now I look a little more pregnant.

The first day of week 28

Now we're at week 30.  Every Sunday night before bed Paul and I read about the week ahead in What To Expect When You're Expecting and this week Xander is about 17 inches long (!!!) and about 3 pounds.  He's moving around pretty regularly, but mostly when I'm really hungry, about half an hour after I eat, and when I lay down at night. And last week Paul felt him kick for the first time, which was exciting. 

Overall, my pregnancy has been easy so far. Yes, I had some nausea and I have some carpal tunnel, but I've gained very little weight and my blood pressure is awesome.  Xander is due September 8 and we still have 10more weeks until then. I'm hoping they're smooth sailing like the first 30 have been.

30 Before 30: Go to Natural Bridge

 

Yesterday Paul and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary.  And can I just say, how in the world have I been married for 2 years already?!  It sounds cliche, but it really does feel like just yesterday that we were fist pumping to journey and chowing down on yummy donuts with our favorite people.

Anyway, Paul and I both had to work yesterday, but he has Wednesdays off now so I decided to take the day off to spend some quality time with my groom. Initially we had planned to go to the Peaks of Otter for lunch and wine tasting, but earlier today Paul brought up that we've been to the Peaks so we should go somewhere we haven't been before.  And that's when he suggested we go to Natural Bridge. And I was thrilled! I've lived no more than 2 hours from Natural Bridge my entire life and I've never been, but have wanted to go for a while, so it was an easy peak for my 30 Before 30 list.

Natural Bridge is a limestone rockface that was formed into a bridge after a cavern collapsed. It was once owned by Thomas Jefferson and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1998. You get to it by following a trail, but it's completely handicapped accessible, which is pretty awesome. 

Looking at it from far away is pretty cool, but close up it's just amazing.  It's a lot wider than I always thought it would be and it's really just overwhelming in a completely indescribable way.

If you follow the trail past the bridge there's a recreation of a Monacan village and, farther down,  a waterfall.  Or at least that's what they tell you.  But I'll get to that in a minute. 

Paul is 1/16 Monacan so he really wanted to go to the village.  Unfortunately, we were there at about 5:30 so all we saw were some structures, but no reinactors.  Paul took to making statements that began, "We Monacans..." and that's when we started to move on.

It was here that Paul made the bold declaration that, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, he would come to this spot to bathe.  He didn't really explain why.  I didn't have it in me to ask.

 

This was taken at the exact same spot as the last picture, but this is the view on the other side of the foot bridge. Paul asked if this was the waterfall we were going to.  I laughed when he asked that, but then about 1/2 mile later when we actually got to the waterfall we were going to, his question was a little less funny.  Because the massive Narnia-like waterfall that I was expecting was actually this...

Pretty?  Yes!  But a waterfall?  I'm going to say that's stretching things a bit.

The first half of our 2 hour walk was a little miserable.  It was super-muggy today ( especially for October), so even in shorts and a barely there cardigan,  I was burning up and had to throw my hair in a pony tail. On the way back it had cooled down a bit and there was a little bit of a breeze, which was nice. I think the perfect time to go would be a crisp 55 degree day after a lot of the leaves have changed colors.

We didn't venture to any of the museums since they were already closed, but I really enjoyed just winding through the woods with Paul for a couple hours without the distraction of phones, computers, or the tv.  Just us.

30 Before 30: Eat at New Yorker Deli

Saturday was a lazy day.  It was so lazy that I can't seem to remember what I did.  I slept in super-late, wore an outfit I wasn't crazy abou, and took a stroll around Target and Sam's.  And that's really about it.  But then Paul came home and must have known that I needed to accomplish something, so he suggested that we go to the New Yorker for dinner.  I don't know if he remembered that it's on my 30 Before 30 list or not, but I'm telling myself that he totally remembered and was excited to help me mark an item off the list.  I'm sure his suggestion had nothing to do with his wanting an italian sub. 
When I first created my list and linked to it on Twitter, one of my local followers suggested that I bring cash.  I remembered the suggestion right when we pulled in the parking lot, and sure enough, a sign on the door informed us that they don't take credit or checks--cash only.  So after a quick trip to the ATM, we returned.

The atmosphere can best be summed up by saying it felt like somewhere the cast of Mad Men would stop and eat if they're on a roadtrip. It was a very no frills kind of place.   It was all dark wood and vinyl upholstery and, basically, exactly what you'd expect from the outside.  We sat ourselves and ordered off the paper menu at the table.  Paul got an italian sub and I ordered a roast beef sub. I was a little concerned that it didn't come with a side and thought I would be hungry after, but I definitely wasn't.  The sandwiches were HUGE!  I don't have a picture, but it wasn't really pretty.  And it didn't need to be, because it was delicious.  We both managed to polish off our sandwiches, but I saw a woman ask for a bag for her leftovers and she was presented with a square of tin foil and a brown paper bag.  Hey, I said no frills, didn't I? 

I give the experience a thumbs up.  The food was good and the music, which included both Rick Astley and New Kids on the Block, was top notch. What?  Those artists are top notch to me!  I also dig me some Toto.  If you're in Roanoke in the Williamson Road area I'd definitely recommend it.

Have you tried out any new restaurants lately? And when was the last time you were at a restaurant that only took cash? Blast from the past, I tell you!

30 Before 30: Create Art for the House

I'm guest posting today over at Standpipe & Sprinkles.  Katie has an adorable family and she blogs about life as a stay-at-home mom to her little girl, Maile, and wife to her husband who is an oilfield worker. You should check her blog out...now!

I'm very happy to report that I tackled my very first 30 Before 30 project. One project that I’ve been seeing on Pinterest a lot lately is, in essence, a painting.  I can barely draw a decent circle, so I never pinned it because I figured that I would never be able to tackle anything involving both paint and a canvas.  But! I made it a goal to create art for the house and I felt this was as good a project as any.  

This project originated at Two Girls Being Crafty and they base it off a print from World Market.  They made it look pretty approachable so I decided to jump in. 

Branch and Circle Wall Art a.k.a Wall Art for Non-Artists

What You’ll Need

Canvas (Size is up to you.  I used 20x24 inches).

Cream colored paint.  You can use spray paint or acrylic. Don’t forget a brush if you use acrylic. 

Acrylic paint in whatever colors you want.  I used a navy blue, dark purple, lavender, seafoam green, and goldenrod.  I already had the navy blue on hand and the others were the cheapest I could find in the right colors.

1 Brown Paint Pen.  I used Elmer’s (If you can’t find it at a craft store, Walmart has them).

Round sponges in different sizes

What You’ll Do

1.        Lay your canvas on a flat surface and, using the cream colored paint, cover the canvas.  After I covered the top, I had a bit of a problem.  I didn’t have a drop cloth or anything to put under the canvas while I painted the sides, so I had to get creative.  I had a small stool that I wrapped tape around.  Then I put the canvas on top so that it would move while I painted the sides.  If you want to recreate my experience, I’d recommend cranking some pop music while you’re painting.  We’re talking One Direction, Carly Rae Jepson, or the Biebster.   

2.       After the paint is dry, remove the canvas from its pedestal.  It’s time to make some branches!  And you might want to switch your playlist to Zac Brown Band’s newest album “Uncaged.”  It will put you in a rustic, branch-drawing mood.  I was pretty nervous about this part because it’s the only real drawing you have to do.  I made some practice branches and realize that branches are just lines.  And they don’t even have to be straight!

3.        Give those branches some time to dry and, if you’re like me, make some dinner and spray paint random objects in your house in the name of crafting.

4.        Now it’s time to put some color on there!  I recommend switching that playlist back to pop music.  Using your round sponges, add circles to the canvas one size circle at a time.  The Martha Stewart sponges I used come out of their holders, so I used both sides.  I started with the lightest colors and then moved to the darker colors so I wouldn’t have to clean the sponges and then wait for them to dry.  What can I say?  I’m inpatient.  Besides, this method worked pretty well.

5.       Keep adding circles until you’re happy.  You might need to add more branches.  I did because I realized I didn’t have enough branches going to the top of the canvas and I didn’t have enough on the right.  Your circles are supposed to attach to either the branches or each other, so you need plenty of branches.  

The great thing about this project is that it’s completely customizable.  Everything from the colors you use to the size of your circles to how many circles you include is completely up to you.   I don’t think it’s possible to mess this one up.  I hung my final project over the tv with some fun fabric in embroidery hoops.

30 Before 30

The other day Paul and I discussed the idea of making a bucket list, but I know that if I theoretically have decades more to complete the items on my list, I'll never complete any of it.  I work best with timelines, so when I saw 30 Before 30 lists on a few blogs I follow, I decided to do the same.  I like the idea of making a list of things I'd like to accomplish in the next few years.  The added benefit of putting the information on here is that, hopefully, it will keep me accountable. So, without further ado, here we are. 

30 Before 30

1.  Get baptized.  I've never been baptized and keep meaning to take steps to do so, I just haven't.

2. Be a mom.

3. Finish my master’s degree. 

4.  Become a librarian.

5.  Upcycle a piece of furniture.

6. Learn to play two songs on the guitar.  These will probably be by One Direction.  Please do not judge me.

7.  Create a piece of art for the house.

8.  Hike McAfee’s Knob. 

9.  Learn to decorate cupcakes and cakes.

10.  Go on a cruise. I went on one when I was 14 but I feel like it would be more fun as an adult.

11.  Run a ½ marathon.

12.  Go to Smith Mountain Lake.

13. Plant a vegetable garden.  Or maybe just one vegetable.  I do NOT have a green thumb.

14.  Pay for the person behind me in the drive-thru at Starbucks.

15. Get Paul a good gift that he really enjoys.  Apparently I haven't really accomplished this so far.

16. Develop a go-to nice occasion hairdo.

17. Take my mom to New York.

18.  Cook Thanksgiving dinner.

19. Learn to knit or crochet and complete one project.

20.  Learn to sew enough to cover our throw pillows.

21. Go to Natural Bridge.

22. Eat at New York Deli.  Its 2 minutes from the house and Paul and I keep saying we’re going to go and we still haven’t after 3 years. 

23. Find a primary care doctor I actually like.

24. Get back into my wedding dress.  And maybe to the point where it's too big.

25. Pay off our credit cards.

26. Go to a drive-in movie.

27. Redo our bathroom.

28.  Find the perfect pair of black shoes. 

29.  Read an entire Hemingway novel.

30.  Pack a picnic, take a trip to a winery, buy a bottle of wine, and enjoy!

So there it is!  Do you have a 30 Before 30 list?  Or maybe just a few things you've decided to accomplish in a set amount of time?