Categories
Family/Travel

Christmas 2011

If you remember, Christmas 2010 was not good for my family. My Ma, my Mom’s mother, passed away about 2am last Christmas morning. Christmas is & has always been a big deal for my family. Ma loved Christmas & her Santas so in a sense, it was fitting for her to hang on with us until Christmas day. So I went into this holiday season feeling bittersweet. The trips & their 2012 arrival was a great happiness for Jason & I as well as my whole family this Christmas & also managed to shift sadness to some joy.

I rode down Friday, Christmas eve eve to Charlotte with my aunt & uncle. Friday day we enjoyed a quick lunch, opened birthday gifts {my aunt, Mom & I all have late Nov/early Dec bdays}, ran last minute shopping errands & I snuck off to enjoy Pinkberry with my buddy Sara. Friday night we gathered around my grandfather for dinner at his clubhouse then opened gifts as a family. There were a few tears but more smiles.

Charlotte Christmas dinner
Christmas gift exchange

Mom, Dad & I traveled up I85 Christmas Eve to join my Dad’s parents & Jason at my parent’s house to continue our traditional Christmas celebration. Mom, Nana & I went to a packed house Christmas Eve church service where we sang by candlelight & were able to visit a little with old family friends.

We had a chill Christmas morning then my brother & new sister-in-law arrived with my “niece” Quinn while we were eating a pumpkin pancake bunch. We opened our stockings, then went upstairs to divide out gifts. Every year we swear we’re going to cut back. Mom & I kind of did this year but Nana & Beth have fun purchasing & wrapping up fun things & we were all once again spoiled! The trips are lucky ducks! Mom & Dad gave us all the loot we’d picked up from my triplet mom friend Jenny as well as some Pandora charms for me & tools for husband. Jason gave me a scentsy warmer & a gold & silver Pandora charm while I gave him a tool box organizer thing he wanted. Nana & Pawpaw gave us money as well as some clothes for us both. Beth & Steven went a little crazy with our buy buy baby registry & tiny baby things: the trips now have newborn-sized bear slippers, owl accessories, the frog bathtub pod, the newborn-to-toddler rocker {my bday gift} & a Baby Einstein entertainer.

While Beth & I napped & the guys watching the NBA games, Mom & Nana stepped up to make a delicious Christmas dinner complete with PW’s beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, a lima bean casserole, pineapple casserole & a pumpkin soup to start. We switched things up & enjoyed an ice cream cake for dessert!

Even being 13 weeks pregnant didn’t stop me from joining Mom & Nana on our usual day-after-Christmas shopping trip. We got a later start but still found some deals at Crate & Barrel & Loft before enjoying a Cheesecake Factory lunch. We ventured to Target on our way back to their house where I picked up some containers for the baby clothes Jenny had gave us. I also got a phone call while we were out saying that the third crib had been lost from Walmart.com but we were able to make a quick stop on our way home to a Walmart off 95 & now we have all three cribs. I can only imagine the fun times Christmas 2012 will bring!

Hope you & your family had a wonderful Christmas holiday.

Categories
Photography

Project 365 Week 52

Happy New Year all! Thanks for sticking with me as I journaled2011 {& my first year with a DSLR} with a photo {almost} every day. I don’t think I’ll do project 365 again for 2012 but I have enjoyed it.

Day 358: Saturday {Christmas Eve} Mom, Dad, my aunt & uncle & I stopped by to see Jenny & ETC & to pick up car seats, bases, strollers, a swing & clothes those trips had outgrown. Mom cried she was so overwhelmed by their generosity. Love them!

Mobile ETC!

Day 359: Mom & Dad’s fun tree {formal tree is in the living room} & my brother enjoying his first mimosa of the morning.

Merry Christmas

Day 360: When we arrived home Monday evening, we opened a gift from Jason’s crafty sister. Diapers & this creative arrangement of “flowers” aka baby spoons & washcloths!

Day 361: Tuesday was a chill day off from work & plans where Moe & I’s big activity was naps before cheering on the Pack in their bowl game win!

Day 362: Only photos I took Wednesday were of the books I’ve recently finished. I posted about The Magic Room last week & there’s a post to come about Listening is an Act of Love.

Last books finished in 2011

Day 363: Welcome to our home green scentsy warmer!

Day 364: Tim & Rhiannon got married Friday night! Here’s a few of my favorite photos of their wedding night.

{and an extra last day!} Day 365: Sober NYE at home made more festive with Trader Joe’s dips, grapes & sparkling pomegranate juice!

Categories
Pregnancy

Fourteen Weeks

I was really late with the weekly pregnancy update for week thirteen, but I’m trying to be better. While I’m showered & dressed today {officially 14w day}, Jason took these photos of me once I returned home from friends’ wedding last night. I’d taken off my tights already & my hair looked better earlier in the night, but for a $11 clearance GAP maternity dress, I think I looked pretty good for making it at the wedding until nearly 10p!

Post-wedding at fourteen weeks

How far along? 14w

Maternity clothes? Rocking maternity pants exclusively. Can still wear 3 out of 4 pairs of my pre-preg leggings under dresses & tunics. Still wearing normal tops when I can.

Weight Gain? I haven’t weighed since my last appt but probably so.

Stretch Marks? No, thank goodness. I’ve been using Burt’s Bee’s Mama lotion. Not sure it’s helping but it does make my dry, stretching skin less itchy.

Sleep? Pretty good. I roll around a lot & try to fight 29+ years of back/stomach sleeping by rolling from side to side.

Movement? We know they’re moving from the ultrasounds but I don’t think I can feel anything yet.

Genders? We hope & pray for healthy babies first & foremost. But I’d love to have boy/girl combos. Just a hunch but I kinda think B is a girl.

What I Miss? I really don’t like to complain. After all the work & prayers that went into getting us pregnant, I feel too grateful & blessed to whine {much} about aches & pains. But this week, back pain has really kicked in as well as sciatica pain that kicked my butt Wed & Thurs at work. So I miss being randomly painfree &/or being able to take drugs.

Symptoms? This question’s getting weird. No longer need “symptoms” to know I’m pregnant. I’ve got the belly to prove it! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Food cravings? Not much as changed from when I answered this last week, still loving all things cheese/carbs. Also loving fruit & ice cream.

Food aversion? I said before that Mexican food is still a no-go. I was sad about this while I shopped at Trader Joe’s today as I {used to} enjoy their frozen Mexican dinners & lunches. Plain chicken isn’t my favorite either but since I don’t eat beef/pork, I force the meat I do eat down {& take an iron pill & that cheese & yogurt helps with protein too}.

Labor signs? No, thankfully.

Belly button in or out? My super innie is still an innie but less of one.

What I’m Looking Forward to? 2012! The year my babies will be born. 1/9 is the next big date for us as that’s our next MFM appointment.

Weekly Wisdom? Eat! I get super whiny {Jason can attest to that} if I get crazy, can’t-get-up-off-the-couch-to-make-food hungry. Thankfully, I rarely let myself get that hungry & if so, the husband as been around to bring quick snacks.

Milestones? Definitely in my second trimester at fourteen weeks. The trips are the size of lemons {about 3.5 inches long}. Their arms & bodies are more proportional & this week their organs are starting to function {aka their peeing in me now}!

Categories
Photography

Project 365 Week 51

Another confession, after fifty-one weeks of taking photos {nearly} everyday, this {next to last} week, I sucked at project 365. I was stressed out with all that was going on at work & home getting ready to be gone for a long Christmas weekend & taking photos was the last thing on my mind. I *think* I made up for it with photos Christmas weekend & since but that’s a new week & another post to come.

Day 351: Saturday night was BA’s Tacky Sweater Party. It deserves it’s own post, but since I’m running two weeks behind when it comes to blogging, here’s just a few of my favorites from that evening.

Tacky Sweater Party!

Day 352: After running to the mall to use a few gift cards that had been burning a hole in my pocket, Moe & I had a chill afternoon.

Days 353- 356: Mon-Thurs were days filled with work, wrapping & packing. I didn’t take a single photo. Not enough when we picked up two out of our three cribs Thursday night.

Day 357: Friday morning I rode down with my aunt & uncle to Charlotte. A Christmas weekend post should be to come. But here’s one photo from that Christmas Eve Eve day.

Papa’s tree
Categories
Everything Else Reading

BlogHer Book Club: The Magic Room

My most recent BlogHer Book Club pick was Jeffrey Zaslow’s The Magic Room. I read the synopsis in my email & on the back of the book, & I thought I’d enjoy reading about Becker’s Bridal & the families & brides shopping there. That’s quite an understatement. I brought The Magic Room to work one day when I knew I’d be eating lunch alone. I cried just reading the introduction {like big crocodile tears} & had to close the book in fear of being “that girl” reading & crying alone.

I finished The Magic Room last night after reading while in the car with my parents Christmas Eve & while taking chill breaks this weekend. I loved it; I think non-fiction is a new favorite of mine. I loved how Jeffrey weaved individual brides’ stories along with the story of the Becker family. I loved how, just as he wanted, the love of daughters really shined through. If I’m ever in Michigan, I’ll have to make a stop in Fowler & see Shelley & maybe Alyssa at Becker’s. Any Michigan readers ever been there?!

I think The Magic Room is my favorite of the BlogHer Book Club books I’ve been sent to read. I’d recommend this to anyone who’s purchased a bridal gown, or to someone about to or dreaming about their wedding. I’d love for Dads to read it to see the bridal world & what makes that dress just so special from another Dad’s point of view.

This was a paid review from BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are all my own. You can join the discussion on BlogHer’s Now Reading The Magic Room.