Expecting

Dave and I are so excited to finally share that we are expecting a baby in February! If we're friends, family, or connected on facebook this doesn't come as a surprise to you but we figured it was time to make the announcement official on the blog as well. I know I've shared openly the struggles we had earlier in the year with our first pregnancy and miscarriage so to say that we are thrilled at how this pregnancy is progressing is an understatement.

Let's rewind a few weeks. We found out were were expecting in mid-June. I had a feeling I was pregnant but the first few tests were negative. Turns out my body just needed some extra time for the levels to become elevated. Once I had that positive test in hand, I was a complete mess. I was so happy I cried. I was so nervous something would go wrong that I cried some more. I called Dave at work and cried even more, called my mom at work and cried to her some more, too. Everyone who had experienced a miscarriage told me that the second time I found out that I was pregnant would be like this - a little bit of joy and a little bit of terror. Clearly we were excited but for me, the fear that this pregnancy would end without a baby was an all-too-real worry for me. So off to the doctor we went for a little reassurance.

After a miscarriage, even just one, the doctor labels your pregnancy "high risk" and you follow a more intense schedule of appointments for the first trimester. For the typical pregnancy, you wait until your 8 week mark to see a doctor. I was in my doctor's office the day after that positive test, at just 4 weeks. We started our first round of blood work. I went every two days for blood work that first week and a half to check my levels - all looked fabulous! I had my first ultrasound at six weeks where the fetal pole was developing nicely. Then again at eight weeks we went for more blood work and another ultrasound. This was the most nerve-wrecking appointment because last time, this is when we found out the baby wasn't developing. Thankfully, this time the baby looked like a perfectly formed little baby (picture a gummy bear people) with a strong-beating heart. Praise God! Yesterday we had our 12 week appointment where another ultrasound showed the baby had nearly tripled in size and the heartbeat was still strong. Baby was moving around too much to hear the heartbeat... looks like we've got an active one in there! My doctor officially removed the "high-risk" label, told me to stop worrying (does she really think I'm capable of not worrying??), and to start telling the world because we really are going to have a baby! So here we are, telling the world. And let me tell you, it's a complete relief to let the cat out of the bag - I never have been good at keeping my own secrets.

I promise this blog won't become all about the pregnancy but I certainly do plan to share about the pregnancy, preparing for baby, and eventually, about our life as a family of three. I plan to do a weekly pregnancy post and share our preparations for baby including nursery progress. I'll also be looking to all my already-parents friends and family for advice on baby gear and hot topics. But you'll certainly still hear about the other aspects of our life (that is if pregnancy doesn't completely consume us for the next six months).

So here begins the journey to parenthood and the Irish family of three! We hope you'll join us as we celebrate this exciting news :)

Wedding Weekend

As I mentioned in my last post, one of my very best friends from college got married this past weekend and Dave and I were so lucky to have been there to help them celebrate! I was fortunate to stand beside Katie as she said "I Do" to her high school sweetheart, a man who got my seal of approval from day one. The whole weekend was absolutely beautiful. Rather than me trying to put it all into words, let me share a few highlights from Katie and Lee's special day.

Every bride needs a little pampering...




...and a little coffee pick-me-up!




Then it was off to the church to get ready






The flowers were absolutely beautiful






Time to say "I Do!"






The party begins on the limo






A pit stop for some ice cream




Formal pictures at a beautiful barn






Then off to The Legend at Brandybrook to celebrate










Dancing the night away as Mr. and Mrs.


Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Suwalski!! We wish you a lifetime of love, happiness, and lots of laughter :)

One Last Fling Before the Ring

As if celebrating our first wedding anniversary wasn't enough excitement for one weekend, I also had the privilege of helping one of my very best friends from college celebrate her last weekend as a single lady! That's right, Miss. Katie Nelson and Lee are FINALLY tying the knot this upcoming weekend! Not only do I get to witness these two people who love each other so incredibly much commit to spending the rest of their lives together, I get to stand next to them as they do so and for that, I am so grateful.

We had a fabulous Saturday celebrating Katie's "last fling before the ring"! We started our day with a trip to Lake Geneva. I had never visited Lake Geneva before but you can be sure that I will be going back and taking Dave with me - it's a beautiful, quaint city with a gorgeous lake, breathtaking views of the multi-million dollar mansions, cute shops, great food, and fun boat rides. The bridal party (plus Katie's wonderful mom) took an hour-long boat ride around the lake, learning about the gorgeous mansions. More like, planning how we would make enough money to someday buy one of those beautiful mansions (yeah.right.). We shared a delicious lunch and enjoyed some fabulous shopping! It was a perfect start the Bachelorette party. Later in the evening, after we got all gussied up, we joined our fellow Pi Phi sisters for a night of celebrating! We had a wonderful Italian dinner at Buca di Beppo's - we even had our own little table in the kitchen. Yes, the kitchen. While it was loud at times, it was a fun atmosphere and it was actually kinda nice to be removed from the rest of the restaurant. We then headed to a fabulous wine and chocolate bar on Milwaukee street called Indulge. From there, we set Katie free with the Pi Phis for the wild and fun part of the night and judging from how Katie was feeling the next day, it was certainly wild and fun :)











Katie and Lee - we are soooooo excited for your wedding this weekend! We can't believe the countdown is at just three days now! We look forward to sharing your special day with you both.

A Year of Wedded Bliss

On Sunday, Dave and I celebrated one year of wedded bliss. One year as husband and wife. One year of the rest of our life together. To say the past year has gone by fast is an understatement. On Sunday we spent some time reflecting on the past year - all the highs and lows, the joys that marriage has brought us, and where we hope the next year of marriage takes us. We are amazed at the strength and character that marriage has given each of us. We expressed our thankfulness to God for allowing us to wake up each morning and fall asleep each night next to each other, knowing that this will be our routine for the rest of our lives. I am amazed each day how much he loves me and that I continue to fall in love with him more each day. Marriage is an amazing gift.

We decided to celebrate our anniversary by visiting the very place we got married. We are thankful that we can visit our wedding and reception location anytime we'd like... most people get married in banquet halls or venues that aren't commonly open to the public. The Milwaukee Art Museum is a beautiful place, for a wedding or just a visit, and that's exactly where we headed on Sunday. But first, we stopped for some morning coffee and delicious bakery at Red Arrow Park's Starbucks downtown Milwaukee. During the winter months, Red Arrow Park is a popular outdoor ice skating rink - it also happens to be the place Dave took me on our first date. From there, we headed over to the lakefront for a visit to the Art Museum and a walk around the lake. We found some lovely tourists to take our picture in the very same spot we said "I Do" just one year earlier. I'll be completely honest, standing in big Windhover Hall filled with tourists made me wish I could bring in my flowers, set up the white chairs, throw on my dress and do it all over again. It was a nostalgic experience to say the least. After a delicious lunch and a little walk, we were ready to head home and bust out our wedding cake that had been safely tucked away in the freezer for the past year. I was a little skeptical of thole top-layer cake freezing thing, but it turned out wonderfully and was absolutely delicious! The beautiful design was all mushed and smeared and it didn't look nearly as grand as our wedding day but it tasted oh-so-wonderful! I had a nice big piece to make up for the fact that I didn't sit long enough to enjoy a piece on our wedding day. It was the perfect end to a perfect first anniversary.













We know we have an exciting second year of marriage ahead of us and we look forward to all the new joys that this year will bring!

Back in Business

After a short blogging break, I'm back and ready to pick up where I left off! Life continues to be a little crazy at the Irish house and we're excited about all the great things happening. I can't wait to start sharing more soon! I'm still trying to decide the direction I want this blog to go from here. I feel like it's been a compilation of my thoughts, interests, life happenings, favorite foods, and a whole lot of other randomness. In the coming weeks I'll start to format my posts with a little more thought and logic but for now, just wanted to warn everyone the Irish blog is back in business and there's lots of exciting stuff to come :)

A Blogging Break

I've decided to take a little break from blogging. In the past few weeks I haven't managed to get in more than a handful of posts. Life is chaotic right now at the Irish house... we've got lots of exciting things happening, lots of changes, and very little time. Right now I feel that I need to focus my time, energy, and attention on these things. I promise I'll be back again soon and with exciting things to share, new recipes (there hasn't been any cooking in the Irish house recently), and some great new regular weekly blog posts. See ya'll in a few weeks :)

Celebrating America

We celebrated America's birthday with family, friends, sun, and lots of fun!

We kicked off the holiday weekend with a day of boating at a friend's lake house. It was an absolutely beautiful day - nearly 90 degrees, nothing but sunshine - perfect boating weather. Our friends from Illinois and St. Louis were in town which made it even more perfect. We went swimming, grilled out, laughed and laughed. Dave was also asked to stand up in his friend Jeremy's wedding next April in Louisville. We're looking forward to a little southern getaway to share in Jeremy and Danielle's special day :) (And I really should have brought my camera on the boat)

The celebrations continued after our day at the lake with fireworks. We watched the fireworks from the home where my great grandmother lives. Boy was she feeling festive! She had a fabulous Dr. Seuss Fourth of July hat, some glow sticks, and red, white, and blue-painted finger nails. She was happy to have us all there to watch the fireworks with her and her house really was the best place to watch them.









The festivities continued on the Fourth with the Cedarburg parade, a cookout at our house with our families, and a long nap to recover from the weekend. Thanks to Wisconsin's hot, humid, sunny weather this past weekend we were too wiped out to make it to the Cedarburg fireworks on the fourth. Instead we curled up on the couch and watched a movie. Perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Hope everyone had a fabulous fourth of July weekend!

(Look for a new recipe in next week's Tasty Tuesday... not much cooking happened in the past week at the Irish house)