A Silly Yak Surprise

Posts on Europe are forthcoming, but first...

Our church surprised my husband and I with a baby shower after worship this Sunday. It was such a sweet surprise, and we felt so blessed by our church family. One older gentleman told me that it was "an honor" to have a pastor who was expecting. He's been attending our church for over fifty years, and said that this was a definite (but very joyful) first!

--Photo borrowed from Gluten Free Hub

As an added gesture of blessing, a couple of our members even drove to Madison (an hour away!) to pick up some goodies from The Silly Yak Bakery for the shower. There was a table of regular food for everyone else, and a little side table filled to the brim with Silly Yak's muffins and cookies for me and baby. Seriously - nothing says love like a big basket of gluten free muffins.

If you haven't been to Silly Yak's, it is well worth a stop. Their breads are really tasty, and I have a particular soft spot for their pumpkin and lemon poppyseed muffins. They only bake gluten free a couple of days each week, so call ahead or check their website to be sure you hit them at the right time!

As for our baby, he or she continues to grow like a champ and kick like David Beckham. I'm starting to feel a bit like a human manatee, but our midwife assures me that I'm right on target for size as I enter the third trimester.

For those of you who like visuals, here's the progression:

12 weeks... also known as the "Yes, I'm pregnant! This isn't just from too many cookies!" phase. 

17 weeks... also known as the "Cute pregnant" phase.

 19 weeks... also known as the "Look, I swallowed a bowling ball!" phase.

 23 weeks... also known as the "Gee, it's getting hard to bend and reach things in the lower kitchen cabinets!" phase.

25 weeks... also known as the "Baby is having a crazy growth spurt" phase. 

The above photo was taken in front of a French maternity shop in Paris. Everything in it was SUPER cute. Everything was also eight million dollars. God bless my wonderful girlfriends who have loaned me maternity clothes and Old Navy maternity with all its sales, or I'd be wearing my husband's clothes... Maternity stuff is expensive! It's hard to stomach paying the prices some places ask when you only wear the clothes for 6 or 7 months...

And right up to this Sunday! 27 weeks... also known as the "Baby is able to kick me in the ribcage" phase.

The gluten free pregnancy continues to go well. I got sick quite a bit in Europe, but more on that later. I'm glad to be home with my kitchen, my garden, and our new fruit-and-veggie CSA! More to come - every day this week!

Thanks for hanging with me, friends.