He’s here!!

Meet Elliott Sallieu!!

He was welcomed into our family on Friday, July 31st at 9.23am and our hearts are beyond full. At 7lbs 12oz and 20.5 inches, he is a blessing we cannot get enough of. It’s been a very exhausting week but I am already loving being his mom.

Every day we are getting to know him. He has his days and nights mixed up for now which has been challenging for the hubs and I but we are adjusting slowly to his world. He loves cuddles, sleeping on daddy’s chest and lights. He does not like outfit changes, burp time, cold wipes or sleeping in the dark.

And as expected Mr J. is a great dad and has been the best partner during this trying first week. He goes back to work on Friday (hold me!!!!!) and I start my time alone with him.

Things will continue to be slow around here on the blog as my hands are busy at home. But don’t worry, there are more guest posts from amazing blogger friends coming your way.

Hope you are all enjoying the last few weeks of summer!

xo

The post BEYOND THE OVEN: Introducing Elliott appeared first on A Classic Twist.

Anyways, here’s what we have been up to since the last update (~5 weeks ago).

Me: “Honey, I need some pics for my bumpdate”
Mr J: “Can they not be boring of you just touching your stomach?”

How far along?: 37 weeks

Due Date: Still 7/29 although he is growing fast and the doctors predict he will be here sooner

Baby is the size of: Winter Melon (whatever that is)

Gender: still a BOY

Total Weight Gain: still hovering around 22 pounds. To be honest, I was unhappy about this the past month as a few people have mentioned I am a ‘skinny pregnant woman’. Even though it was meant as a compliment for most people (except this nail technician who went above and beyond to let me know I need to eat more..oeuff), I still felt like I was not doing a good job at being healthy and gaining appropriate weight. Of course my doctors are not concerned and he is growing fine…ahead if anything but I felt guilty at some point.

So we had fun posing..or pretending to pose.

Maternity clothes: If I wasn’t in maternity clothes then we have a problem. I am currently loving maxi dresses as they are very comfortable and make the heat bearable. I’m not sure why I’ve never been a fan of maxi dresses before but I think after the baby comes, I would revisit them. I’ll share some pics of some favorite maternity maxi dresses on a Fashion Friday post next week. Above: Jeans (H&M Mama Skinny Jeans); Top (StitchFix Maternity Top)

Symptoms: Swollen feet, serious waddling like a duck, achy back, heartburn from everything, you name it. But to be honest, I can’t complain. These are all normal pregnancy side effects and I feel extremely blessed to have made it this far without any complications.

Sleep: That’s a thing of the past. I accept evolution’s desire to train my body for many sleepless nights to come.

Exercise: Just walks when I can. I’ve been working more hours in the lab rushing to finish up experiments and being on my feet all day long usually just drives me to the couch when I get home in the evenings.

Movement: We are moving less but I think someone is running out of space for all that acrobatics of the last few months. I think he gets the memo, it’s eviction time soon!

Best moment this week: We had our our last ultrasound appointment and it was great to see how much he has grown. He is ready to go and positioned correctly.

Food Cravings: Everything and anything carbs! I am bad I know. I made these doughnuts again just because I needed them 🙂

Mood: My mood is much more stable now. We pretty much have everything set to go, thanks to two baby showers and the hubs. The hubs really surprised me as he is usually a last minute kind of guy. Hello, we still don’t have pictures hung up in our house since we moved TWO months ago. It’s a struggle to get him to do things he doesn’t want to do. But I think the fact that the last few of our friends who had babies all came around 32-34 weeks freaked him out and he pushed to get everything done.

Mr J: “Uhmmm, yeah that is not what I meant”

Nursery: I will say complete except for a few decor items. I just got some paintings from The Land of Nod to complete our safari theme. I’ll get around to taking pictures at some point soon and share with you. We even organized his teeny tiny clothes this past weekend.

Looking forward to: finishing the most of my summer recipe content for you! I have a few recipes I’ve been working on that I need to share before I head out to maternity leave. So bear with me if you get an overload of delicious, drool worthy summer recipes the next two weeks (more than my usual 2 posts/week).

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Speaking of which, I intend to take some time away from the blog when our little one arrives to spend time with him, our families and focus on being a mommy. Things will be slow around here in August and September. But of course I can’t leave you hanging completely. I’ve asked a few of my amazing talented blogger friends to fill in with some recipes and guest posts for you while I’m gone. I know you will LOVE them.

The post BEYOND THE OVEN: Bumpdate {37 weeks} appeared first on A Classic Twist.

You guys, I woke up to the best surprise EVER yesterday. A large group of blogging friends threw a surprise virtual baby shower for me and Mr J. I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t to be honest.

Ever since I started blogging 2+ some years ago, I’ve always been lucky to realize that the best part of this journey is the people you meet. The relationships you form, the friendships you make and people you just plain love. After all, we all have a passion for good food and sharing food with others. But never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be this accepted and loved in a community. It’s beyond amazing and just makes you happy to know you have a family of good people out there. And it’s gone well beyond the virtual space we all share. These are real life friends; friends you can text, email or call whenever you need a shoulder to lean on. Friends that can give you advice when you need it and friends that you can just plain laugh with.

These were the people who got together yesterday to celebrate the arrival of our little one with a virtual baby shower and I am beyond grateful for each and every one of them.

In case you were confused, the way these virtual showers work is that everyone brings a recipe to the party and showers the guest of honor with love and well wishes, just like in real life except it’s online. I love these showers because they are truly amazing as we form such wonderful friendships with each other everyday over the interwebs that celebrating one another is just a natural next step.

For this party, the wonderful hosts (and my dearest boos) Allie, Alice and Jocelyn, decided on a coconut themed party because they know I am coco-crazy and cannot stop myself with all the coconut recipes around here. So needless to say, it was just perfect!! I was drooling at 8AM as I went through all the posts.

Blackberry Coconut Cupcakes, by Baking a Moment
Blueberry Coconut Meusli Bars, by The Spiffy Cookie
Blueberry-Ginger Coconut Cheesecake Popsicles, by Floating Kitchen
Caramel Coconut Cluster Bars, by Eats Well with Others
Chocolate Coconut Cake, by Brunch with Joy
Coconut Breakfast Pudding with Sauteed Nectarines, by Cooking and Beer
Coconut Cake, by I am Baker
Coconut Cream Pie Ice Cream, by The Recipe Rebel
Coconut Energy Bites, by The Kitchenarium
Coconut Key Lime Angel Food Cake Roll, by Flavor the Moments
Coconut Key Lime Pie Cookie Bars, by Two in the Kitchen
Coconut Key Lime Macarons, by Life Made Sweeter
Coconut, Lime, and White Chocolate Milkshake, by A Clean Bake
Coconut Pineapple Banana Smoothie, by The Bitter Side of Sweet

It went beyond just coconut in it’s finest glory but it was a tropical party!! There was key lime, mango, pineapple, blackberries, more key lime and more mango! Seriously, when you think of a tropical galore, this party had it all. Sweets (lots and lots of sweets), savory and even drinks made an appearance. I had to share the recipes with you because I know you will LOVE them as much as I did. Think ice cream, cupcakes, muffins, popsicles, fried rice, cake (and more cake), cookie bars, cookies, macarons, donuts, scones, pies (and more pies!), smoothies, sangria and more. All your summer entertaining is covered 🙂

Please take the time to check out ALL the delicious recipes below. You will love them all so pin and save for later.

Coconut Pineapple Fried Rice with Shrimp, by Healthy Nibbles and Bits
Coconut Sweet Potato Muffins, by Luci’s Morsels
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Coconut, by The Cooking Actress
Key Lime Coconut Button Sandwich Cookies, by Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
Key Lime Coconut Pound Cake, by Grandbaby Cakes
Lavender Coconut Macarons, by Broma Bakery
Macaroon Tarts with Ginger Coconut Whipped Cream and Pineapple, by A Cookie Named Desire
Mango Coconut Donuts, by Chez Catey Lou
Mango Coconut Smoothie, by Jessica in the Kitchen
Mango Summer Cake, by Keep it Sweet Desserts
Mini Coconut Cream Pies, by Hip Foodie Mom
Pina Colada Pie, by Life, Love, and Sugar
Skinny Blueberry Lime Scones, by Club Narwhal
Spiced Lentils with Toasted Coconut, by This Gal Cooks
Toasted Coconut Banana Meringue Pie, by The Sweet {Tooth} Life
Triple Coconut Rum Layer Cake, by bethcakes
Tropical Pineapple Coconut Sangria, by Shared Appetite
White Chocolate Coconut Key Lime Cookies, by Culinary Couture

Ladies (and Gent!), THANK YOU very much for the amazing baby shower. I wish we could all have partied together in person. That’s the only way this would have been better. I feel so loved and special and little Blahnik Baby was excited all day long feeling the love. I can’t wait for all of you to meet him soon.

To my boos, Allie, Alice and Jocelyn, thank you chicas for organizing and throwing this wonderful party in my honor. Love you ladies more than you can imagine.

The post A Coconut Party and a Virtual Baby Shower!! appeared first on A Classic Twist.

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