4 It's Christmas Time

Hard to believe that Christmas is here already! I'm finishing up baking as I write this post. Grizlenuchles are in the oven, the toffee is cooling in the fridge and soon I will be starting the Ritzy Peanut Butter Cookies Beth shared with us earlier this week. White chocolate and peanut butter....that's like crack to this pregnant lady!

Tomorrow will be filled with many emotions.  There will be sadness for the first holiday without my aunt and of memories from Christmas past with my mother, so much joy for the little miracle growing in my belly and overall happiness for the good people and things that I am blessed to have in my life.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone! I wish you peace and joy this holiday season!

6 Monday Ramblings

~I can not believe there are only 5 days left till Christmas. Wow…where has the time gone? Seriously, where is it? I haven’t even begun my holiday baking/candy making! That probably will happen on Thursday. I hope it will happen on Thursday. Right now I’m thinking of making Toffee and Grizzlenuchles (husbands families recipe). *Might* throw something else in, but not going all out like I did last year…that was just an insane bake-athon!

~The 4 weeks in between my doctor appointments seem like they are taking FOR-EVER! I know soon enough I will feel like I live there, going every other week then every week. But it’s just so hard waiting to know that everything is ok. I am enjoying every minute (well maybe not the heartburn but at least I know something’s happening) of being pregnant and don’t want to rush it. I just can’t wait to feel the little one move regularly!

~We tried something different this year with our gifts. We have 2 Christmas trees, one upstairs and one downstairs. We split our gifts up so we can each have some under the tree. I get 2 kinds of wrapping paper and we mix them up between both trees. Well this year, I decided to put all of one paper under one tree, and the other under the second tree. I kinda like it, we might have just started a new trend.

~Ellie and Emma are getting along so good, I am so happy that they are starting to get closer to each other. Every now and then a morsel of doubt will pop in my mind, wondering if we had waited just a few more weeks before deciding to get Ellie, which would have been after we found out we were expecting, would we still have gotten her? Would that have changed our minds and not adopted her? Part of me thinks maybe, but then I look at her sweet face and think about how cold and lonely she would be at the pound I know we made the right decision.

~As of this morning, with the exception of some random whites and a few towels…all the laundry in our house is clean. This hasn’t happened in years. Granted almost all, well ok all of what was washed in the last week is still sitting in baskets and on the sofa waiting to be put away. One step at a time people….didn’t want to get sidetracked. LOL.

~I am so thankful to work for a company that has shutdown the week between Christmas and New Years. Its awesome to get paid to enjoy the holidays with your family and friends! I’m hoping to get lots of organizing done while I’m off, including getting that laundry put away as well as gathering our yearly donations. No better time to clean out the closets then when I’m putting away clean clothes!

~I could very easily get used to wearing elastic waist paints. They are so comfortable. Who needs buttons?

~I am thinking of redoing my blog again, feels like it’s time for a change. Just need to narrow down the colors/theme and go from there. Maybe I’ll work on that over break. That and play some Atari, cause that’s how we roll.

11 14 weeks

I thought it would be fun to start documenting some pregnancy experiences and updates,
so here is what's been happening lately along with my first baby bump picture!

How Far Along am I: 14 Weeks

Size of baby: Bean is the size of a lemon

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 5 lbs since conception

Maternity Clothes: I am alternating between a pair of low rise maternity jeans and a pair of regular jeans with a hairband around the button, but everything else is regular. 

Oh, and I did have to order bigger bras. Does that count?

 Gender: Not sure yet! Hopefully we will find out in January!

Movement: I *might* have felt a little flutter on Wednesday evening (12/8) while I was at work. 

Kind of felt like when your eye starts to twitch but you don't blink, know what I mean?

Sleep: I'm really tired most of the time, fall asleep on the couch most night about 9, 

then wake up about 11 then go upstairs to bed. 

I've been waking up on the weekends with with a sore hip if I sleep too late.
Oh and I'm peeing about 3 times a night.

What I miss: Nothing really, well maybe wine, but its well worth it! 

Cravings: Chipotle and sweet potatoes

Symptoms: Heartburn mostly, the nausea has passed except when I'm hungry

Best Moment this week: Feeling the possible flutter in my tummy 

and seeing my cousins baby knowing that in about 6 months,

we'll be holding our own little bundle of joy!

1 Choosing the right Christmas Card

It's that time again...time to get the Christmas Cards in the mail. I love sending Christmas Cards, and up until a few years ago, I had always done the traditional boxed cards, maybe 2-3 different designs.  I love the idea of Photo Cards, but thought isn't that just for families with cute babies? Then I started getting photo cards from friends that didn't have kids, and I loved getting them, it was nice to see their family, especially if they don't live close! And ones with pets...too cute! And anyone that knows our family, knows that Emma is like our cannine child and now we have her "sister" Ellie, so of course the dogs would be included in our card photo!

So I thought about ordering some for this year, and then when we found out we were expecting I thought, what a fun way to start doing Christmas Photocards!  I have ordered prints from Shutterfly in the past and have always been happy with their service, so I checked out their selection and found a few designs I am loving! I'm thinking of going with multiple photos, since it would be pretty tough to get all 4 of us in one shot and look presentable. Actually, there would be be 5 of us, but bean is just the size of a peach now, so we can work that in just fine.

What do you think about this one? Hubs and I at the top and solos of each of us in the other ones.

I'm kinda digging this one too. Maybe get both dogs together in one shot for the bottom?

Or what about this one, and dressing up in our Ohio State attire? That would be ubercute!

My question to you: Do you like getting the flat cards or do you prefer the folded ones? We put ours on a stand, so the folded ones are a little easier to stand up, but the flat ones are good for hanging along the door frame.

Guess I have some decisions to make about what pictures we are going to put in this card...time is ticking and we need to get these holiday greetings to the right people pronto!

*The wonderful people at Shutterfly are offering 50 free photocards in return for blogging about their 2010 Holiday Collection. I love browsing thru all the cards, even if I don't end up buying them. I choose to do this on my own, not because they tell me to.  As you can see, this is super easy to do and gives you so many ideas for fabulous holiday cards. If you want to, go check it out here for yourself!