The Calm Before the Hurricane

Ah, the day before Thanksgiving. A day of rest, peace, relaxation and thought. Obviously I have been enjoying my beer a wee bit to much this morning! Tomorrow will be anything but relaxing with having 20 people over for dinner. That's where the beer comes in...HA!

Yesterday I spent the day we organizing all of our cabinets and food pantry. End result was that we freed up one whole cabinet (soon to be filled with baby bottles), and made things work more efficiently. Afterwards I went to the supermarket to pick up Mr. & Mrs. Lou Lou and some other odds and ends. When I got home, I finished working on my beer, cleaned up the dinning room and helped Kristin clean out the guest room and set up the pack and play for Callum.

Kristin and I realized we have not kept up with our weekly pictures of her growing stomach. Below is an updated one, which is for week 21 1/2! For the past week, we have been putting prenatal speakers on her belly an playing music for CHANTE. He seems to enjoy because he moves all around depending on the song. Last night we used the heart monitor to see if we could find the babies heart beat, which to date we have not been able to. At last, we heard out little ones heart! It was awesome! We listened to it for a few minutes before leaving the little guy alone. For me, it is so comforting being able to hear his heart because I cannot yet feel him kicking when putting my hand on Kristin's belly though she feels him moving around all the time now.



This morning I got up really early and cleaned the two turkeys and prepped them to be brined. After they were cleaned, I put them each in their own brining bag, where they will sit until tomorrow late morning soaking up all the great spices they are soaking in. I also fried up the sausage for the stuffing and made my first homemade cheesecake, which is still baking. Later I will make the stuffed mushrooms (for DH)and get a few other items prepped so I do not have to worry about it tomorrow. My goal is to actually enjoy the Holiday tomorrow vs. spending my whole day in the kitchen.

The Kranchelsony's are very excited for the Jacalamanda's to arrive this evening. They have not been to our house since July 4th, so we are looking forward in spending the weekend with them. Safe travel guys!!!!

Monday Activites

With spending my day Friday in the ER and much of the weekend home sick, today I had planned to just hang around the house. After all, I couldn't leave because I have not car. As you all know, I had a car accident last week and the VW is not drivable. Kristin had to go not the office today, therefore leaving me with no car.

This morning I did not do much. I watched the Today show, read some emails and played with the dog because she missed her mommie. This afternoon I spent working on my beer. To brew beer, it takes 2-4 weeks depending on what type of beer you brew (sometimes even months) Once the beer is brewed you can either bottle it or keg it. When you bottle it, you have to mix sugar into the beer so that while in the bottles, the yeast east the duagr and naturally carbonates the beer. This process takes a minimum of 2 weeks. Not only does it lengthen the process but it is also tedious to sit and clean sanitize, bottle cap 50+ bottles. The kegging process is much easier and faster because you force carbonate the beer with CO2. I have never kegged my beer but needed to this batch because I wanted it to be ready for Thanksgiving.

Yesterday I spend the afternoon reading up on how to keg the beer, regulate the CO2 tanks, force carbonate etc. So, this afternoon I spent an hour cleaning and sanitizing the keg and all its components. I then transferred (racked) the beer into the keg, sealed and moved to the garage. I had to put in the garage because when you force carbonate, them temp needs to remain under 60 so the beer absorbs the gas. I hooked up the regulator and gages, hooked up the gas line to the keg, the output line and turned the gas on, closing my eyes fearing an explosion. Once I opened the valve, I quickly regulated the amount of gas going in so that it was at 12 pounds. For the next several hours, I will go out and roll the keg so to increase the surface area for the CO2 to be absorbed by the beer. End result, beer ready to drink tomorrow and it will pour fresh from my own keg! I have a picture below is the keg (Cornelius) and what the CO2 tanks and regular look like. One gauge shows how much gas left in tank and other shows pounds of gas going in.



Well, I am off to watch the 24 premiere I DVR'd yesterday. The towing company should be here shortly to pick up the VW.

Happy Elf Family

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Anthony's Vacation begins....kind of

Hello, Kristin here. Sorry we haven't had a blog in week or so...

Today Anthony began his vacation, he is off today and all next week and doesn't return until December 2nd. Then he works for like two days and is off the month of December, except for 2 days of travel. His vacation didn't start off quite so grand. He woke me up early this morning to tell me he wasn't feeling well at all. He was literally shaking under 2 quilts and was all achy and hot. He went to the walk in/Emergency room at 8am and is still there. Currently he is hooked up to Iv's and they are doing blood and seeing what the heck is going on. I hope its just the flu or something....I'd ride down to be with him but.......

Anthony got into an accident on Tuesday night with a deer! He was coming home from work on 395 and ended up hitting a deer and the guard rail. Thank god he is OK, but the Jetta will be going to the car hospital for a while. Also, selfishly I'm glad I was not in the car as the seat belt got very tight on Anthony's chest so it would not have been good on my belly!! He was a bit sore Tuesday night and Weds but luckily he was OK overall. Weds morning on the way to work I got to see the poor deer victim, gross.

So I can't go drive to see Anthony at the doctors as I am car less!!!

On a brighter note I'm 21 weeks along and feeling great overall. Just this week I've started to feel a lot of movement. Baby Favry ( ha, you thought I'd say the name) is swimming all around in there. Last night Anthony put our special headphones and CD player on my belly and the two of them listened to some classical tunes. Oh, and Anthony told me the baby talks, the other night he said to Anthony, " Daddy, I want a Wiii", silly kid. Anthony will have to take an updated belly shot for your viewing pleasure.

We are looking forward to next week, Can't believe its Turkey Day already. Anthony needs to rest up this weekend and get better or you'll all be eating turkey subs at Subway instead!!!!

It's a Boy (Confirmed)

So, a couple of weeks ago we found out we were having a boy, but were told that it was an 80% chance. Today Kristin and I went for our 3D/4D ultrasound a confirmed that our little monkey is in fact a boy....picture below, which in on taken from underneath him.



Our now named child (keeping a secret) was not very cooperative today. He was moving all over. Every time we tried to get a look at his face, he either covered it with his hands or he would turn all the way around. Kristin would then turn sideways on the table, which resulted in the monkey going the opposite way. The technician at one point made Kristin eat chocolate hoping the sugar would get him to move so we could see him more clearer. He kept on putting the umbilical cord in front of his face. Today's experience was nothing less than amazing. To see our child like is was there in our hands was incredible. We watched him smile, suck his thumb, put his finger in his ear, wave, turn and twist etc. He still has not packed on the fat yet, so we saw more bone structure than actual features. We did see his hands and feat very clearly though. Here are some pictures with short blurb explaining what you're looking at.

Right hand by ear with left hand over face. His head was turned to the side:


Picture of his face with his foot off on the right side of the picture:


"The Thinker" pose. Side profile of his face with his thumb up:


Waving at us. His right hand waving with his left hand rubbing his eye:


Looking down on his face. His skull bones have not fused together so you can see some spaces on the top of his head:


We got a CD with 25 picture on it and a DVD which had 25 minutes of our little monkey moving around. We are so excited and cannot believe we are half way there!

Fun Times

As you can see from the picture, Kristin and I had some laughs last night. To celebrate I being offered a new job, Kristin and I went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville last night at Mohegan. Every time we have gone to Orlando, we have always gone to the one down there. They just recently opened on at Mohegan a couple of months ago. The restaurant is two floors and made to feel like you're sitting on a boat in the water. The floors look like water, there are palm trees everywhere, a full size prop plane hanging from the ceiling etc. The second floor, which is where we sat, is a huge patio deck that overlooks the Thames River. In the Spring/Summer months, the class walls all slide open so you can eat outside. For the cooler nights, they have heaters that hang from the ceilings to keep you warm. They also have a stage on the main floor for their weekly concerts. Lastly, they have this massive object that hangs down from the ceiling, which is made to look like a hurricane. At certain times, the hurricane starts spinning with flashes of lightening. A huge tequila bottle then drops from the center of the hurricane and pours tequila into a huge blender, which turns on and makes margaritas, thus bringing you to margaritalville. Sorry....pretty hard to explain!

For food, we got their famous volcano nachos which were sickly huge (piled about 12-14inches high) and incredibly good! By the time we finished the nachos, we were both grossly stuffed. By the time our dinner came out, I did not even eat one bite of my food (fajitas) and Kristin only ate half of a half of her Cheeseburger in Paradise. Somehow though we both had room for the hurricane sundae which too was massive.

The picture above was taken after the man on stilts came upstairs and made a balloon hat for Kristin. I tried to get her to walk through the casino with it but she did not buy into the idea.

Beerful Weekend

It has certainly been a beer filled weekend! Last night, Kristin and I went to Beer Fest in Providence. Obviously, Kristin did not drink. She did eat cheese, pizza and sandwiches though! If you remember, we had gone to the April one and had a great time. The November one though is much bigger, with more beer companies and beer paraphernalia. They have two sessions, an afternoon on and an evening. As we did in April, we went to the afternoon session, which started at 6:30pm. The place was absolutely packed. If you do not like crowds, this would not have been the event for you to go to.

Kristin's friend/former roommate Stephanie and her husband Mike met us at our house before heading up. At the fest, we met up with Lauren and Paul, Stephanie and David and one of Lauren and Paul's neighbors. The thought of how many beers I tried over the period of 4 hours makes me want to get sick, but it was certainly fun at the time. I have to thank Kristin for going because I cannot imagine how boring it must have been for her, not to mention how long she had to stand on her feet (5-10:30pm). She was definitely a trouper!

Speaking of Kristin, she seems to be getting bigger every day. Very exciting indeed because now I can actually see it!



After beer fest, we all headed over to Union Station in Providence for some food. We were all tired, especially knowing we had an hour drive. After a later night dinner, we headed home, sat in front of the fire for a while and then headed to bed at 1:30am.

This morning I got up early and cooked breakfast for Kristin, Stephanie and Michael. I made french toast, eggs, sausage, bacon and also picked up bagels. After they left, I began my next batch of beer. I have been excited for this next batch, which is a Holiday Ale, flavored with chocolate malts, cinnamon, ginger, orange peel, vanilla and some other holiday seasonings. As I write, the wort (unfermented beer) is sitting in an ice bath to rapidly cool it to 70 degrees. Once it hits 70 degrees, I will then transfer it to the fermentation pale, add 3 more gallons of water, the yeast and then tuck away for the next 7 days while it ferments. Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well, we will have some holiday spiced beer, which will leave your stomach with a warm feeling (more alcohol).

Beer ingredients:


Kristin just left to grocery shop. While she shops and I wait for my beer to cool, I am watching to Pat play the Bills, currently winning 7-0. Hopefully they can keep it up the rest of the game and secure a win against first place Bills.

Upcoming this week we have our next monthly check up with our midwife and our 3D/4D ultrasound on Friday, which we both cannot wait for. 3D ultrasounds are fairly new and insurance does not cover them. They are typically not used for medical purposes unless they are trying to determine if the umbilical cord is tied. Rather, they are used so you can see what the baby looks like, watch it move etc. I always thought 3D ultrasounds are the ones that allow you to see the babies organs, bones etc, however, found out that this is done with a regular ultrasound. We will definitely be posting picture Friday.

Week 19ish

Two days shy of 19...



Seeing Kristin every day, I do not notice how quickly she is growing with the exception of last weekend. Kristin went to bed Friday night and woke up Saturday having grown. At first, I did not know if Kristin spent the night up eating peanut butter cups, coleslaw and pickles (some of her favorite food right now), but soon realized that the baby is moving on up! We go next Tuesday for our next monthly follow up appointment. Only one more left and then we start going every two weeks. I think we will also start birthing classes sometime in January, which should be a lot of fun. Between driving 1 1/2 hours into work every day, we will also have to drive 45 minutes to birthing classes and Dr. appts. I think we should just rent a motor home!

Since we announced were having a baby, we have been slowly accumulating clothes. The first of the clothes were sleepers from the grandparents. After finding out last week what we were having, the babies wardrobe has expanded, having gotten more clothes from Nannie and Grammie and also from ANT Amanda, Uncle Jared and cousin Callum. We also got a cute outfit from Kim and Bryan. Below is a picture of the babies closet and one of Kristin holding up a few of our favorite outfits! I am thinking this kids going to need a walk in closet by the time its born.




Well, it has been a long week and I am happy its Friday. Tomorrow Kristin and I are heading up to Providence to beer fest. Obviously, Kristin will be the designated driver. She'll be sampling cheeses while us non-preggos drink some fabulous wheat beverages. Speaking of wheat beverages, I am going to be starting my next beer this weekend. What will soon be on tap at the Favry house is a Holiday Ale, which will be seasoned with cinnamon, ginger, all spice orange peel and some other spices. My goal is to have this ready in time for Thanksgiving. Because of the short time frame, I am going to have to keg this beer vs. bottle because there will not be enough time to allow the beer to carbonate if I bottle. To be honest, kegging is a lot easier and more convenient, especially now, because I can keep the keg in the garage because its cool at night. I am also hoping that over Thanksgiving weekend I can start another batch, which I am thinking will be a coffee porter.

Weekend Festivites

Excited with our news about having a boy, Kristin and I could not wait to go see Callum and let him know of the good news. As such, we headed up Maine Friday morning because Kristin and I had taken the day off. On our journey up, we stopped and saw Papa Goldsmith and had breakfast with him and Bab's at Percy's. Out of all meals, going out for breakfast has to be my favorite. I always tend to order more than I need but manage to eat it all. I of course had a hash omelet, which is what I always get no matter where I go. I also got biscuits and gravy which were awesome!

After breakfast, Kristin and I headed up to Maine. The drive amazing enough was good. We hit no traffic and made it in 3 hours, which was great. We spent the whole time thinking about boys names. We still have not settled on anything but not worried as we have time left. I seem to try the proposed names by yelling the name as I have a feeling I/we will be doing a lot of that with our little rascal one day if he takes after his father.

We got to Jamanda's around 3:30pm, however, our little nephew was not there. Callum did not arrive until 5, at which point he was dressed up for Halloween. He was a very handsome pumpkin this year as you can see below. Callum's extensive photo shoot exhausted him, which was expressively evident as he was fussy and crying. It also did not helped that he was beyond the point in which he typically goes to bed.






While the rest of the Goldsmith's/Willard's/Favry's were inside, Jared and I were outside handing out candy. We first started in the garage, then moved to the front door step then to the end of the driveway as Jared wanted to ensure we had the best spot to examine the Hannah Montana costumes! Jared and I were a gay couple this year, holding hands as we handed out candy. We also had some wheat beverages to sip on as we handed out candy, making all the father's envious of our set-up. I have to say, after 4 years of not getting any trick or treaters at our house, I was amazed at the hundreds of kids that came to theirs. I have never seen streets so packed before in my life. Cars packed of kids were parking along the streets dropping of the kid to trick or treat. It was awesome! We'll have to bring our son up to Maine as I am sure he will have fun trick or treating with his big cousin!

After we ran out of candy, we headed inside and had some dinner, which Jared made. He made a good sauce with pasta. The sauce was awesome and very filling. After dinner, which we had with the Jamanda's and Jon and Mel, we went next door to Cindy and Dana's house, who live behind Jared and Amanda. We only hung out there for a short while before heading home and going to bed.

Saturday morning we got up around 8am and Kristin and I spent some time with Callum. Jared made us a great breakfast. We had sausage, eggs, biscuits and apples slices that he cooked. After breakfast, Jared and I went for a canoe trip with his friend Dave. The trip was about 2 1/2 hours long, which was great. With the exception of the wind (which was in our favor), the weather was perfect. I took some pictures, which are below. I had a great time and hope to do that more when I go up to Maine. I only wish I had my kayak. After the canoe trip, Jared and I went to OPB (Oak Pond Brewery) and filled up 3 groulers of beer. I got 2 dark lagers (Story Teller) and Jared got an Ocktoberfest. We ended up only having half of a growler though. Later that afternoon/evening, the 5 of us went to Cancum for dinner. Callum was a good boy the whole time. After dinner, we headed home, gave Callum his bath and sat in front of the wood stove before watching Kristin's and Jared's baby video and Murder She Wrote!

Pictures of our canoe trip:








Sunday we left around 9:30 after spending some time with Callum in the morning. We made it to Taunton in 3 hours which was great timing. We ended up stopping at 15 Dickinson Drive, had some cookies and headed out to grab something to eat as Kristin and I had not eaten all day. We even got some cute clothes from Grammie and Papa B for our little one. We have so much clothes between what we have gotten from Grammie Favry, Nannie and Jared and Amanda. We ended up eating at Smoky Bones. After Smoky Bones, we went to Kohls because Kristin had to return some clothes she had bought. Then, it was off to CT.

All in all, good weekend! We had fun up in Maine and cannot wait to see Callum (and Jamanda) for Thanksgiving! The Holiday's are going to be so fun having two kids running around!!!

Pictures of Callum: