I’m back, baby!
After a fantastic cruise with friends, a wonderful 27th birthday and five hours in the car today, it feels good to be home.
I have a lot of recapping to do and plan to cover our vacation over the next day or two, but figured I would dive into the fun tomorrow and highlight some wonderful memories from today first!
Meeting Baby Noah
We got off the cruise at Port Canaveral a little after 9 a.m. today and had plans to meet up with our friends Carrie and Dru and Will and Alex in Orlando before heading to my parents’ house in St. Pete to pick up Sadie and drive back to Ocala.
We planned to spend several hours in Orlando this afternoon because we wanted to get to know this little guy:
Say hi to Noah!
Noah is Dru and Carrie’s adorable baby boy. He was born in January and is just about the happiest, calmest little guy in the world. Noah is the first baby born to friends of ours so it was a lot of fun to talk to new parents about how they’re handling such an exciting new addition to their lives.
You can tell Dru and Carrie are head over heels in love with Noah. I also plan to talk to Carrie at length if/when Ryan and I start to seriously talk about having a baby because she is just about the most laid back mother in the entire world. She also described the epidural she had as “not that painful.” As someone who is deathly afraid of needles (I don’t even have my ears pierced), I obviously think she’s a champ.
Family Birthday Celebration
After saying goodbye to our friends, we drove two hours to spend the early evening with my parents in St. Pete. They planned a belated birthday celebration for me which made me smile!
We were pretty hungry when we arrived and dug into the feast my mom prepared that included homemade ribs, corn on the cob and beans.
You would think that after a few days of all-you-can-eat food on a cruise that we would take it easy, but the food was too delicious not to pack in. Tomorrow vegetables will make a comeback in my diet. Tomorrow!
My mom also made a red velvet cake with homemade buttercream icing for dessert.
Make a wish!
I had two slices and licked the icing off my plate. Loved it!
Ryan and I have plans to relax for the rest of the evening and catch up on last week’s episode of New Girl.
See you in the morning! I hope you had a great weekend!
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That little baby is the cutest!!!
he was such a smiley guy! we loved him!
I noticed you said if/when you and Ryan talk about having kids… just curious but is not having kids something you guys would consider? I just kind of assumed that you guys wanted to have kids at some point since you’re both so tight with your own families. 🙂
oh we definitely want kids!! we just aren’t ready quite yet. 🙂
Cute baby! I also love his name–it’s a cute one.
And I love that your mom planned a belated birthday dinner and cake. That was so thoughtful and awesome of her!
Can’t wait to hear more about the trip 🙂
So glad you had such a good time. Red velvet cake is my favoriteeee. Can’t wait to read about the recaps of your cruise! And is it just me or is everyone in the blog world having babies recently? I’m only 21 so I have a while before I start having a family but its also made me really excited for when I do!
Ooh, your birthday meal sounds delicious – I usually request ribs and corn on the cob! Two of my favorites. Plus ice cream or funfetti cake 🙂 Glad you had fun on the cruise – can’t wait to read all about it!
Glad you had a great time!! Can’t wait to read the recap! 🙂
How adorable is he! 🙂 Happy birthday!! The red velvet cake looks yummy too 🙂 Glad that you had a great time!
glad you had a fun trip!! can’t wait to hear all the details. your birthday cake looks delish… i hope it was one of many 🙂
What an adorable baby!!! Can’t wait to hear about your weekend!
Sounds like a fun day 🙂 Dinner looks fantastic! Can’t wait to hear about your trip.
Beans and corn are veggies … In their own way 🙂
Red velvet cake is amazing … Does your mom share her recipes????
(And where was Sadie??? Did she miss you?)
those ribs look so yummy!
Welcome back girl!
as always, your family’s dinners looked delicious! glad to hear you had fun tripS! 🙂
Such a quick cruise! How do you enjoy your sweets without after guilt? I kept this guilty feeling after a few days of not “eating perfectly” and I know I need to be easier on myself.
Glad you are back! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Can’t wait to hear all about your trip… and see hilarious pictures of Sadie giving you all her love since I’m sure she missed you!
Glad you had a great birthday, what a way to celebrate.
Happy Birthday Julie!
Your post really made me miss my mom in Vero Beach, FL! I am a student at University of Miami and it’s finals week. So stressful and just wishing I was home.
I read your blog everyday but never comment. I am a huge fan! Hope you had a great cruise.
xo
thank you so much, lily! GOOD LUCK on your finals!
Glad you had a great vacation and birthday! Now I’m wishing I lived a little closer to cruise ports so I could grab some friends and go on one!
Happy belated birthday! Looks like a good first day back from your trip. Can’t wait to hear all about it! 🙂
Noah is the cutest! Happy belated birthday, it looks like you had a fun one!
Welcome back! Looking forward to your posts again!:)
Was she pregnant at her wedding? If they were married in March and had a baby in January… I am thinking so!
no, but RIGHT after! 🙂
How cute is Noah, absolutely adorable! I’m glad you had a blast on the cruise, I mean how could you not though.
I can’t wait to hear all about your cruise!!
What a great end to your birthday week!
Aww! That baby is super cute! 🙂 I cannot wait to hear about your cruise.
Enjoy your tv catch up! It sounds great!
Maybe you are less of a wuss than me, but when those painful contractions are hitting the last thing you’ll worry about is the needle! You just want the pain to STOP so you can stop screaming! But maybe that’s just me, haha. I still tell people the epidural was the best invention in the WORLD.
Oh and I never saw the needle, either time! Just the anesthesiologist who I wanted to kiss.
I don’t have my ears pierced either! My friends always make fun of me and think I’m crazy, but seriously what’s the point? Needles are scary.
I gave birth to our first son “all natural” – no pain meds, nothin! People are always like “oh that is so great, you’re so brave” yada yada – but in truth, I was more afraid of that needle than of actually giving birth.
For our second son, I decided to get the epidural and it was totally fine. I never even saw the needle! It was a completely different experience for both births but both were absolutely wonderful – I was very lucky to have it pretty easy 🙂
My water broke at 12:30, I got an epidural right away (they make you look away and I almost didn’t feel it AT ALL), took a nap for 2 hours, and pushed for 15 minutes with my first baby. I would never have described any part of the process as painful – just super hella lot of pressure at the end! In fact the healing process (I had stitches) was the most painful part by far. I just think it’s nice to hear a NON-HORRIFIC first childbirth story. So don’t worry! Epidurals are amazing! You’ll do great (one day)!
Happy Birthday!! That spread looks great!
Do u think we could get a look at your mom’s red velvet cake receipe? I can never get mine to look “red” enough!!