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Friday, December 28, 2012

So far behind...

The past couple of weeks have flown by.  From school parties, dance recitals, choir concerts, Christmas programs, a Christmas party play-date, a little bit of cold/sinus/crud, family Christmas, snow days, and work....our days have been full.  It's all been good, but I haven't had the energy to blog about and document it here.

I sat down last night and started going through the pictures...and quickly realized that there were SO many!  I got through them all and decided to go to bed at 9:30 instead of starting to write them all out.  ;)

We had family Christmas at my mom's house this past Sunday....and after putting the girls to bed that night...I didn't see them again until Thursday morning.  A part of me feels like this is so sad.  That's so long to not see them....and to not see them on Christmas.  But I/we survived it.  I had busy, busy assignments at work that really kinda kept me from being able to sit and think about it all too much.  Geoff was great and took lots of pictures and told the girls that I was taking care of sick babies- and while I am sure they would have loved for me to be home...I don't think they missed a beat.

I'll get around to posting about everything hopefully later this week.



Yesterday we just spent the day together as a family.  We only picked up the toys we strung out while playing...and did no cleaning.  We went out for lunch...did a little shopping...and was home by 1:30.  And then the girls and I put on our jammies.  It was a good day.

Today was filled with a little more work.  We took down all of the Christmas decorations.  And we officially made Parker's room...the girls' room.  


The new year is bringing with it a hefty to-do list to get things cleaned up and cleaned out here and ready for baby.  Everywhere I turn there seems to be 'stuff'.  We have too much junk 'stuff' that just accumulates over time and I'm ready to get organized!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Christmas Card 2012

I didn't really think I'd get Christmas cards out this year.  I had the best of intentions (like always) to get family pictures done in October...but my laziness and first trimester kept me from it.  Then the time just flew.  So while I like to send out Christmas cards with pictures of our whole family- this year I settled for a couple pictures of the girls.  I love having a Christmas cards to look back on each year and how we've all grown.

After Parker got out of school on Monday- I took them to a nearby park.  I thought it'd be SO easy.  Just snap few.  Yeh. Not so much.  But I guess I got a few and that's all you really need.

So here it is....our Christmas card 2012



Christmas Card Past

2006- Our first Christmas that we were married. These were our girls...Lola and Lily.



2007- Our second Christmas together.... we added our baby girl to the mix (Parker at 3 months).


2008- We decided to do a family photo along with some individual photos of Parker (15 months old).



2009



2010


2011- We didn't send out cards. 


This year- 2012

________

Linking up with Kelly's Korner

Sunday, December 16, 2012

last week

We had another full and busy week last week.  I know it's not too exciting- but I love to document my instagram pictures here, as well, because some of these photos end up being my favorites.



Grace and Parker before the Mommy and Me Christmas Tea at my friend, Jenny's house.
So I've never bought the girls smocked dresses.  And I do love the smocked dresses but I always thought they were a little pricey.  I figured I wouldn't be doing much sewing this Christmas so I bit the bullet and got them one for a good price off Zulily.  Well- they do not like them at all.  So this will be their first and last smocked dress. 



After the Christmas tea...we headed to The North Pole Express in our jammies.



A little more fun with Fred our Elf...






New wall art I made for our mantle....




And this sweet baby.  She has not been sleeping well at night.  She will wake up and come into our room probably 4 times a week (exhausting for all!).  So this past week she did fall asleep in the car on the way home from a playdate and actually stayed sleeping on the couch for about 30 minutes once we got home.  She needed that sleep!



Finally got around to doing a baby update!


And Friday afternoon we ended up being able to spend about an hour and a half together as a family.  We'll take what we can get!  It was a cold and rainy day...and hot chocolate with Reddi whip and a Christmas movie sounded perfect!



Parker said, "We should take a picture of our feet!  Daddy- push pause."  Ha ha!  She is defnitely her mother's daighter!  And I love this picture.


Looking forward to another full week!


life rearranged

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Deck the halls!

Well.  Sorta.  I guess I wouldn't say that our halls are decked- per se.  We don't really have that much Christmas paraphernalia.  And this year- we didn't even get out all that do we have.  It's just the season we're in right now, I guess.  I definitely wanted to get enough decorations out to make it merry and bright...but I wanted the least amount of work.  :)


I did get around to decorating our mantle this year and I kind of like it.   I do think it's missing something, but it hasn't come to me yet?




My favorite thing is this Christmas tree subway art.  I love this verse from Isaiah...prophesying the coming of the Messiah over 500 years before Jesus' birth.





 I made this Burlap Bubble Christmas tree last year and wasn't quite sure what to do with it this year.  But it ended up back on the mantle.  :)


 And this nutcracker.  My dear friend, Amy, got this for me and Geoff our first Christmas we were married and I love it.  So does Parker...except she wants to play with it and I do not let her because I want it to actually last!


And our stockings.  I love our stockings.  I ordered them from Pottery Barn the Christmas before Grace was born knowing that these would be our stockings forever (or at least for a long while).  And wouldn't you know- they no longer have these.  And with the addition of baby boy next year...that leaves me with a problem.  I did get a stocking pattern last year that I never used...so I'm thinking about making our stockings for next year.  We'll see!


In years past...I've always displayed our Christmas cards along our mantle.  I knew I wanted to do something this year...and after making this frame for displaying our instagram photos...I knew this would be the perfect thing.  It's hanging in our kitchen so we're able to enjoy them more this way.




We have 2 Nativity sets....this Little People one....


and this one that I bought back in college.  Parker arranged both scenes herself.  ;)


And this is our Christmas tree.  So we decided to actually go to a tree farm and cut our own this year.  And while it was a good experience making lasting memories....I do not think we will be doing it again.  This tree isn't the prettiest tree.  ;)  We only put up maybe 25% of our ornaments because it was hard to find branches that are strong enough to hold the ornaments.  The good thing is...I put on lots of lights.... which I think helps!


 I took a strand of lights, strips of Christmas fabric, and tied them around the lights.  Its really cute with the lights both on and off.  I did this last year and got the idea from The Vanilla Tulip but I can't find the link.



We didn't really do much on the outside either.  One day, one day.

Another new addition this year is this mesh wreath.  I looked up DIY Christmas wreaths on pinterest for inspiration...and came across this one.  She has a wonderful tutorial.  I feel like these wreaths are really big...even a little over the top.  A little different than what I usually go for.  But for whatever reason- I am loving these big, over-the-top wreaths right now.


I would like to add a little something to the center of this wreath like in the tutorial, but this is as far as I got and I'm happy enough with this.  I think I see more mesh wreaths in my future.




 And that's about it!  Hoping to get some pictures of the girls tomorrow for our Christmas cards.  I realized just a few weeks ago that we didn't send one out last year, so I really want to this year.  And I wanted to do a family picture, but it's just not going to happen.  So I'll settle for our sweet girls instead.

______

Linking up to Kelly's Korner- Christmas Tour of Homes



Wednesday, December 12, 2012

you know it's your 3rd pregnancy when...


  • when you're 19 weeks along and only written about it a few times on your blog (when your 2nd pregnancy you wrote about it almost each week)....
  • when you haven't taken but maybe 2(?) belly pictures (when with your first 2 you did and you took them each week starting no later than 14 weeks)
  • when you find out the sex of the baby and have no idea what the name will be (at least in our case...we knew what the girls' names would be very early on)
  • when you only get around to taking your prenatal vitamin 4-5 times a week 
  • when you drink caffeine (considering with Parker I had maybe 1-2 sodas in a week, and with Grace- half a cup of coffee a day...and NOW with Baby #3...a cup of coffee in the morning...and even a soda about 3 times a week in the afternoon!)
  • when you don't read your Baby Center weekly emails each week....or really ever.
  • when you're 19 weeks pregnant and look 24 weeks pregnant.  Ha!

So here I {we} are...19 weeks....


And now for an update:

I'm feeling good.  I feel mostly 'normal' other than the protruding belly and when I feel his little flutters at random times reminding me he's there.  

I'm definitely in maternity pants- have been for a few weeks, I guess.  Still wearing my regular tops...mostly because I haven't bought any fitted tops.  

I don't really have any specific cravings...but I will say that I gained no weight in the first trimester....and once I hit 16 weeks...my appetite my a comeback.  A pretty big one.  :)  And I've gained about 8 pounds so far.

Last week was the first week where people at work started commenting on my belly.

We had our mid-pregnancy sonogram last week and everything looked good.  The brain, heart, intestines, etc.  It was so good to see.

There is one main thing that's different with this pregnancy.  In this pregnancy....I am a Neonatal ICU nurse.  So yeh- it's been really easy to let my mind race with all the possibilities of all the things that can go wrong.  I think I'm starting to get better...or trying to at least.  I know God is in control and He has a plan...and that all things work together for good and to just trust Him.  So I'm making it my mission to just enjoy this pregnancy....my {more than likely} last pregnancy.

I was telling a friend just today that I still feel like this all hasn't sunk in.  The fact that we're going to be adding a whole other person to our family.  Starting over in a lot of ways...Grace will be almost 3 and half when this baby comes.  Don't get me wrong...I'm thankful for this age gap because in a lot of ways, I think it will be good.  Glad the girls will have each other.  With all that said- I also know it will be an adjustment for all!

A few more photos of baby boy...

the head is in the middle...with his arm/hand touching his head... (still kinda weird to say him and his instead of her!)

and this is his bottom half with his leg and foot





Monday, December 10, 2012

The North Pole Express!



This past Saturday, after our Christmas Tea....my mom and stepdad treated us to an afternoon at The North Pole Express.  I'm pretty sure Parker and Grace were excited, but I was, too!  The girls are so much fun right now with Christmas.  Especially Parker.  She has a deeper understanding of what's going on and she really believes.  And- it was the girls first time on a train.

So in preparation of our big adventure- we read the book The Polar Express (they had opened it earlier in the week for our book advent).  Also- each year Kristin and I get the girls a new set of Christmas pajamas...and so this was a good occassion to bring those out!



Riding the tricycles in this little fenced in area for the kids....




Aunt Aubrey and Grace...



Grace giving a high five!




Aunt Sis, Uncle Phil & Payton


Aunt Aubrey and soon-to-be Uncle Greg!



This picture is so funny....they all wanted to be next to Aunt Aubrey and not Greg (eventhough they all DO like Greg...just shy sometimes).


Gramma & Poppa




Aubrey was originally holding Grace...then she reached over and wanted Greg to hold her.  She found herself a new best friend!  Ha!  I always say that Grace is the 'smart' one in that if she can get someone to hold her, carry her, or push her in a cart or stroller....she will!  I just feel bad because she gets heavy after a while and I'm sure that's not everyons favorte thing to do.  So I told her she needed to let me hold her for a minute so Greg could take a break and wouldn't get tired.  Instead- she chose Aunt Aubrey to hold her and told Greg she'd come back after he 'took a break.'  She's a mess!


Walking to the train....



Snow! {real, pretend fake snow!}














Parker's really becoming more independent lately.  I guess she has for a while now....but rarely wants to sit in my lap.  When we go on a playdate...just wherever...Parker will usually leave me and go and do whatever it is she's supposed to be doing and rarely check in with me.

But this gal....she's going through a phase where she usually wants me to hold her and sit with her and just wants to be right there doing whatever it is I'm doing.  She'll run off and play for a minute, but it won't be long before she'll be back by my side.  And in all honesty- I love it.  I just try to soak it all up because I know before too long she'll be running off to play with her friends and not giving me a second thought (as it should be) and won't want to sit in my lap and just cuddle.





I know I look silly n this picture....but Grace is so funny these days and will just start talking to me and telling me things and she'lll be so serious with the most serious face and I just agg her on because I love it and think it's so darn cute.



At first, Grace was acting like she didn't want to see Santa..


Santa passed out silver bells to all the kids just like in the book....and if you can still hear the bell...then you still believe!





There were 2 girls who sang Christmas carols on the trains and the girls just stared...and would even sing, too, if they knew the song.



And what's a trip on the polar express without hot cocoa? (eventhough it was warm and in the 70s!)



We had a fun time hanging out with the family- it's hard to get us all together these days, but thankful it worked out!


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