A Weekend of Christmas

I feel like I blinked and Christmas was upon us. This weekend it really hit me that we are right smack dab in the middle of the Christmas season and we better enjoy it before it's gone. We had a full weekend celebrating various things, here is a little recap:

 

Friday night we hosted our 1st annual aunts/uncles slumber party. They were our first overnight guests in the new house and we were really excited about the event. My husband made out an itinerary and sent it to everyone :) It was so much fun and GGH loved having four of her favorite people in her house. She was a very good girl and didn't fight bedtime like I feared she might.

 

Making Christmas candy was one of the events of the night. We made puppy chow, peanut butter balls and pralines. You better believe this girl was the biggest duck in the puddle.

 

The dress code was pajamas :) And Christmas candy calories don't count! Baby boy sure enjoyed all the yummy food.

 

Saturday morning the overnight guests checked out and we got ready for a jam packed day.

 

First stop was our friend Eliza's frozen birthday party. Georgia's day was officially made when Elsa showed up to the party. She was the youngest one at the party and all the older girls stood by Elsa to have their picture made but she insisted on sitting in her lap :) I thought it was so precious and I hope our trip to Santa will resemble this experience!

 

She had a great time and the sweet friends hugged before we left. They met at AKK preschool and have been buddies ever since! So glad Princess"Ziza" invited us to her party! 

 

Saturday afternoon was our town's Christmas parade. We attend every year and she enjoys Santa and the horses the most. It was cold so we cheated and watched from outside for a while then watched the rest from Grandmomma's window :)

Christmas parade 2013 and 2014. Same wholesome expression and cute slopey nose :)
 

Saturday night was the annual Christmas dinner for the BCBOE staff. It's at a different venue every year and this year it was at the Country Plantation House. Oh my word what a beautiful place! It's like an old Southern mansion with huge porches and columns. It was breathtaking.
 

The inside was just as fancy and impressive.
 

We had the place all to ourselves with a catered meal and a fun game.
 

Couldn't miss an opportunity to take a picture in front of the beautiful staircase. A colleague joked I should post and say "Christmas in our new home" HA! Not quite.
 

Sunday was the usual-church, Mamaw's for lunch and then a day at home wrapping gifts and naps for two other family members. I had to take a picture of these two dandies at church. They are the best of friends and he says he will marry her someday! Marriage talk already, I am so not ready for this.
 

And this is happening tonight. I have been sad about it because it's so hard to let go of some of her precious things but when we moved and realized she has SEVEN totes of baby things I declared it full out hoarding and decided to do a little purge. I've had so many people contact me about her clothes so I thought the most fair way to do it would to be a sale on Facebook so everyone has a fair chance. I'm not selling a lot, probably 25-30 pieces and I'm still holding on to my favorites in case we are blessed with another daughter. I hope I don't chicken out :)

21 & 22 Weeks & Week Recap

21 weeks

(Her first time wanting to be in a bump picture!)

Pregnancy Update:

How Far Along: 21/22 Weeks

Size of baby: baby is the size of an orange

Total Weight Gain: Gained 3 pounds, I guess it's all going to pile on at the end!

Maternity Clothes: I'm making fleece-lined leggings work with everything. My staple outfit right now is leggings, a flowy top/blouse and a vest or cardigan. Also loving my new belted cowl neck sweater!

Gender: It's a boy!!! We are so excited we will have one of each now!

Movement: he's very much making his presence known these days. Lots of flutters and kicks!

Sleep: I'm sleeping like a rock and could sleep 24/7 if I allowed myself ha!

Cravings: Salty and hearty! I want steak, beef jerky, peanut butter, soups. And then a bowl of chocolate ice cream before bed! 

Symptoms/Sickness: feeling really great right now. My energy is back and I eat all day long so what's not to love right now? :)

Best Moment this week: A great report at my OB-GYN.

I had my 20 week doctor's appointment last week where everything looked great. I had a nose bleed and headache that morning so I wondered about BP issues but it was 98/58 (normal for me). His HR was a strong 150. It was a quick checkup with no big events but I'm thankful for the reassurance I'm growing a healthy, perfect baby!

Finalizing the name is our priority this week. I'm ready to start ordering personalized things for him! Georgia Grace wants to name him "sister". Clearly she's not accepted his gender yet ha!

Everything is calm and cool on the baby front. We are just so thankful we get the chance to experience this all over again. There's nothing like the joy of motherhood!

And a few highlights from the week-

Tuesday night we had the annual Christmas dinner for the school nutrition department. This is my first year as Director so this was a whole new experience for me and it was so much fun. The ladies surprised me (& Georgia Grace) with such thoughtful gifts and sister had the best time meeting everyone and being the ham she is. It was a wonderful night!

I hit up Target this week for odds and ends and hit the jackpot! Rugs for my kitchen and back hallway, a new stocking for Owen (he was due an upgrade), a table for the entry and a storage unit for the playroom! My favorite find of all is the Christmas snowglobe for brother bear's room. This is the first piece I've bought ha! I couldn't pass it up.

And I'm home today with my girl. We kept her home from preschool today due to getting sick through the night. Hope it's just a 24 hour bug but I'm enjoying the extra snuggles while they're so easy to get :)

Happy weekend y'all!

Turkey Week 2014

The blog was neglected this week as we concentrated on getting more settled in the house and celebrating the holiday. I should also add that AT&T is on my naughty list this year, they make me want to lose my religion.

 

Anyway, besides that ordeal we had a fantastic week at home. I left the house just when I had to and spent the rest of the time enjoying our new surroundings, cooking, decorating and shopping from my phone :) It was pretty perfect in my eyes.

 



Wednesday afternoon our entertainment center we have been waiting for arrived. We were both eager to have it set up to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade so Marcus got busy. I have to brag on my man for a second. He has been very handy and patient throughout this whole process. He has worked his tail off getting our house ready and I appreciate him very much.

 

Two and a half hours later it was finished and this was my view Thursday morning for the parade. We absolutely love it! It holds our new 60" TV (pre black Friday online sale-woohoo!) perfectly. As I've mentioned our living room is tricky but we've figured out what works best and we are loving it now.

 

And this was my view to my right. Owen within arms length and sister curled up on the couch with her Daddy. Daddy's girl to the max!

 

We kicked off our Thanksgiving day feast with a country breakfast and wearing your Indian headdress was a requirement :)

 

Thanksgiving day we celebrated with my Mom's family and we hosted Marcus's family and the Ross's Thanksgiving night. I have pictures of these events on my good camera I hope to get uploaded this week!

 

But for now I've got a few snapshots from my phone. This girl loves her ham and corn.

 

I'm so glad we got to spend Roman's first Thanksgiving with him. They were driving home from Georgia for Nathan's brother's military graduation and we insisted they stop and celebrate with us. Love this family!

 

The sweetest picture, she mesmerizes him :)

 

This weekend we had a holiday meal with some of Marcus's extended family at Grandmomma's house. We got to see our cousins and Marcus's uncle that we don't get to see very often so we always look forward to that. Georgia Grace sat at the kid table with her cousins Audrey and Maggie. Mags was our flower girl almost five years ago, her and GGH remind me a lot of each other! She had a big time playing with these two and her other cousin Charlee.

 

Over the holiday I had time to sort and organize some of baby boy's clothes. I must confess-I've had a good portion of these outfits for two years before we found out we were having a girl the first time. I know boys are harder to buy for so if I saw something for a boy I loved I gambled and bought it. I will have opposite gender babies and completely opposite seasons so it's basically like starting from scratch. But I'm up for the challenge and thankful for the differences.

 

Sunday we kicked off Christmas attire wearing season! And the continued season of doing everything but look at the camera for a picture. This was a consignment find from a year ago and it's so fun and festive. We wore it to preschool today too since we kept it clean (a Christmas miracle!).

 

Thanksgiving leftovers, nothing better. My girl loves pumpkin pie and we let her eat it right out of the pan.

 

And our big accomplishment this week was decking the halls for Christmas! Our house is still only about 75% furnished so I'm happy with the way it turned out our first year! Our greens for the mantle were too small and the lights were out on our tree but it's not about perfect. Sometimes simple is better :)

 

Hope your Thanksgiving was a special time for you and your family! Bump updates coming this week, I promise.

Weekend Roundup

It's Monday and I'm doing a quick blog update from my phone since we won't have Internet until Friday. We had a great first weekend in our new home. I say home because it instantly felt like that to us. We've all slept like rocks (it helps we're exhausted from moving) and would rather just stay home than go do anything. Plus it's really clean right now :)

Here was the house with a skiffy of snow on it Monday. Georgia was in the yard playing with the pumpkins on the porch and the snow in the yard ha!

 

Our biggest headache has been finding furniture that will work for our living room. This is sectional/sofa #3 and it's the winner! We have a long narrow living room with a big hearth and lots of doorways so it's tricky but this layout allowed us to have a sectional (which is what I really wanted and thought would provide the most seating for us) and a recliner so husband and wife are both happy :) More furniture and decor to come but so glad to have the heart of the room finished!

AKK does holiday units every season and for Thanksgiving they always ask every child in private one thing they are thankful for. There are days I doubt my abilities as a parent and then I get a little reminder like this that we must be doing something right :) I am SO proud of her.

The highlight of the weekend was celebrating my mom's 50th birthday! Yes, fifty and she looks thirty. I really really hope I get her genes :) More pictures to come from the good camera of the surprise party we threw her!

Saturday night we did some house/Christmas shopping. We went to the mall for our bedding and Georgia Grace loved seeing all the Christmas decorations. And we rode the escalator at Macy's which could have been her first time and was a big hit!

 

The icing on the cake this weekend was getting a sneak peek at our family pictures that Kasey Inman Photography took last weekend. I love every one I have seen! Christmas cards and framed pictures for the house-check :)

It's thanksgiving week and I have so much to be thankful for. We're going to enjoy this week spending time with family and hosting our first Thanksgiving! My heart is full.

20 Weeks

 

(picture taken Monday on our snow day)

Pregnancy Update:

How Far Along: 20 Weeks

Size of baby: baby is the size of a banana

Total Weight Gain: Gained 1 lb (have no idea how this is possible with the size of my bump!)

Maternity Clothes: My maternity tote is out of storage and sitting in our room but I'm still able to squeeze in regular clothes. The rubberband pant trick has been my best friend for several weeks now :)

Gender: It's a boy!!! We are so excited we will have one of each now!

Movement: Marcus felt him for the first time this week! And every night when I eat my nightly bowl of chocolate ice cream he goes wild. 

Sleep: I'm sleeping like a rock and could sleep 24/7 if I allowed myself ha!

Cravings: Just anything and everything

Symptoms/Sickness: Heartburn and some nausea but nothing to complain about

Best Moment this week: Moving into our new house! Now we just need our little guy with us to make it a home (in 20 weeks though ha!)

 

So as I mentioned we stayed at our new house for the first time last night! The mattresses arrived yesterday afternoon so we worked all afternoon and night getting everything ready to stay for good. Even though we are in there is still so much to do. But each day our garage full of stuff gets a little less full and the house becomes more full. It was sad to leave my Dad and his house where we have been for almost six months but at the same time we were so ready to have our own place again. Even though rooms are missing light fixtures and there's not a TV in the house it already feels like home :)

Weeks In Review

Today I'm doing a little recap of the day to day things we have been doing over the past few weeks.

 

 We moved 90% of our stuff this weekend (THANK YOU to our "framily" that helped us! You are invaluable!) and now we are waiting for our mattresses to be delivered and getting everything into its place. If the mattresses aren't delivered by Friday we are just going to sleep on an air mattress! We are ready :)

 

 

In other news, Georgia Grace officially became an Aunt Kay's Kids preschooler last week! After her second birthday she could officially enroll so now we have a big preschooler in our house. She comes home singing songs about Thanksgiving, telling us the colors and naming all her friends. She loves her days at AKK and I'm so thankful she is there.

 

Owen photobomb ;) This is about how close he stays to one of us at all times when we are home. He loves his people and we love him!

 

They have started their Thanksgiving unit at AKK this week and every child was asked "If I were a passenger on the Mayflower I would take"...

Age 2:

Georgia- Uncle Jake

That lucky ol' Uncle Jake! There were some funny ones as always-iPads, dinosaurs, broccoli! Those kiddos are a hoot.

 

Last Saturday was a house errand day. We still have so many things we need to purchase so we tried to tackle a lot of that. She was such a good girl going in store after store filled with things that didn't really interest her. She kept us entertained regardless :)

 

Her treat was Chic-fil-a for lunch. Right before I took this picture she said "I gotta dip it" and we were eating at "Chic-a-flay"!

 

My husband is a 4th grade math/science teacher and last Friday a group of high schoolers came to his school to perform a magic show. He was nominated by the students to have his hand set on fire and a student got a great picture of it! He said he didn't feel a thing and the kids went wild.

Saturday we had family pictures made. We had them scheduled for the end of October but we were rained out and had to reschedule. Since it was later in the year and the fall foliage is mostly gone we changed gears completely and did more of a winter/Christmas theme. And unfortunately it felt like winter that day! It has turned super cold here and it was barely above freezing when we took our pictures. She was a trooper! And I'll admit there was some bribing for smarties that went on. I'm not above that :) I can't wait to see them!

 

When we got home and settled in I (and hello baby boy!) started cooking supper. She really wanted to watch me so I set her on a barstool and she watched every move I made. This will probably be one of the last meals I cook at my Dad's house before we move so it is a sweet memory for me.

 

Saturday was also moving day and I failed to take any pictures of the action since I was mostly inside cleaning and boxing things up. We used Nathan's covered trailer to haul everything and that was a huge help! We moved almost everything in about half a day thanks to lots of helpers and the fact we kept a lot of things boxed up from the old house.

 

This picture makes me all kinds of happy because I have never had a place to store serving pieces. At our old house this stuff lived on the top of our clothes dryer or shoved in the back of a cabinet making it almost impossible to get to. They now live in extra cabinets in my laundry/mudroom. So thankful for space!

 

This girl didn't miss out on the moving fun. She helped clean her vanity mirror with Ma amongst several other things. Some productive, some not so much :) She loves her new room and playroom! It's going to be a fun weekend staying in our new house permanently!

 

And Sunday night we went to bed like normal and Monday we woke up to a....

snow day!! This was my first snow day as an adult and I felt like a kid at Christmas. My boss allowed me to work on my school menus from home so I got to enjoy the day at home with my family. It was such a treat and my friend put this on my FB post and I think it makes perfect sense: "snow days are God's way of smiling down on pregnant mamas!" I love it.

 

That really set our week off on the right foot and help counter the early entrance of winter we are experiencing. Stay warm friends!

19 Weeks

I'm hoping this little corner of the www will hold me accountable to continue my weekly updates like I did the first time around. We have had so much going on so I'm just now starting them but we're getting to the interesting stuff now anyway :) Even though it's harder to find the time with baby #2 I want this pregnancy to be just as exciting and celebrated! So here we go for the next 21 weeks---really, that's all I have left?!?

 

Pregnancy Update:

How Far Along: 19 Weeks

Size of baby: baby is the size of a mango

Total Weight Gain: Gained 1 lb (have no idea how this is possible with the size of my bump!)

Maternity Clothes: My maternity tote is out of storage and sitting in our room but I'm still able to squeeze in regular clothes except my maternity swimsuit for our beach trip last week. The rubberband pant trick has been my best friend for several weeks now :)

Gender: It's a boy!!! We are so excited we will have one of each now!

Movement: I'm feeling him quite a bit through the day. I'd say in a few weeks Marcus and Georgia Grace will be able to feel him too. I'll never get tired the feeling of a baby in my womb!

Sleep: I'm sleeping like a rock and could sleep 24/7 if I allowed myself ha!

Cravings: Salty and hearty! I want steak, beef jerky, peanut butter, soups. And then a bowl of chocolate ice cream before bed! I'm sure I will make up for lost time on my weight gain at my next appointment.

Symptoms/Sickness: My sickness has improved over the last few weeks. I still am sensitive to smells and can gag at the drop of the hat but no vomiting. As long as I keep food on my stomach I am a-ok.

Best Moment this week: Seeing his nursery painted, carpeted and ready to furnish and decorate!

 

This pregnancy is almost half over and I feel like it just started. I knew it would go fast this time around. We are moving this weekend (!!!!!) and I can't wait to be settled and be able to focus on baby boy. And we have to name him sometime too :) We're working on it and will announce once it's official.

All in all we are doing great and just getting excited about starting traditions in our new home this holiday season. I watched my first Hallmark Christmas movie last night and I'm completely in the spirit. It's such a special time of year!