Schnelle Christmas

Gabe and I spent Christmas with his family in SW Missouri. Christmas at the Schnelle's is always an awesome time. The whole family gathers for feasting and fun and it usually is at least a 2 day affair.

Gabe's mom with all the grand kids. Yea, we are adding a little late, but there is always room for one more!
Patiently waiting to open gifts.
It isn't Christmas in Missouri without the St. Louis Cardinals apparel.

Its too much excitement for Cheyenne.

As is tradition, after feasting, the family gathers for some type of game. (this year it was competitive BuzzWord). Then we break up into smaller groups and play games and watch movies until the wee hours of the morning. Of course, I am always the first to poop out. I end up going to bed at 11:30.

The weather was really strange. It was 70 degrees and very humid, making for a very uncomfortable night. Then a cold front moves through and this morning, as we were packing up to head home, we were under a tornado warning. Tornadoes at Christmas??

Tonite, back at home, Gabe and I celebrated our Christmas with a quiet meal and leftover fudge and cookies. Check out my Christmas gift! Yep, I have the world's greatest hubby!
The little bean had her share of fun too. She is moving around more than ever now and certainly made her presence known when she felt like it. My tummy actually visibly moves around now. My weekly preggo email says I have 77 days left. eeeeek!

Motherhood....oh my...

As the big day draws closer, I often find myself daydreaming about what's about to happen. And often, I find myself on the edge of sheer panic when I think about how drastically our lives are going to change. How will we handle it? Will I be a good mom? Will I be a patient mom? Will I feel smothered? Overwhelmed? Will I be affectionate enough? Loving enough? How will our animals suffer? I am already filled with guilt. What did we get ourselves into?


That is when I know its time for Cjane. In the blogging world you happen upon some great blogs. Cjane is has become a daily favorite and a source of comfort and reassurance. Her family values are something to be admired. She makes motherhood/parenting/family seem like heaven, even in the face of tragedy. So, whenever I get anxious about the massive changes that are coming our way, I go to Cjane and read this. Or my personal favorite.

Then I fill up with warm fuzzies, look lovingly at my husband and our home, thank god for all our blessings, and know everything is going to be alright.

Turkeys, Baby Showers, and Girl Time

Gabe and I spent Thanksgiving week in Denver. It was great to have more than just a long weekend and actually spend a full week! We normally drive to Denver with the dogs, but this time, we left the animals behind and decided to fly. A 11 hour drive while pregnant just didn't sound very appealing. We had a great time in Denver visiting friends and family. Even with the extra time, we still never get the chance to see everyone we would like to. Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic. My dad dug out the turkey fryer and we had the best turkey ever! I didn't realize until we got there how homesick I really was for my hometown. So it was nice to be home again, even for a few days.

Once back at home in Missouri, it was a crazy stress week for me (hence my panic post below), and I then found myself on a plane once again headed back to Denver for my baby shower and annual christmas brunch with my BFF's. Gabe opted to stay behind this time.

It was a GREAT weekend. The shower was beautiful, and it was so great to see family and friends that I have not been able to see since we moved. Kristi and my mom put on a great spread. The gifts were incredible. And the clothes!!! oh, baby girls are so much FUN!

Here is a brief pictoral review:

My cousin, Rachelle, is so talented. She made the cake for me. So cute!!



















The shower was in an open house format so that people didn't feel like they had to stay the entire time. One of the things I hated about showers was how much time it took to watch the gifts being opened! But, I was amazed the everyone stayed while I opened a huge amount of gifts. Everything was adorable. 85% clothes. It was so funny listening to the "awwww's" with every outfit. It also really started to sink in what was about to happen. So I had a bit of the butterflies through the day. It was a blast and I can't WAIT to put all of it to use. I am so blessed to have a wonderful group of friends and family.






This is the back of my mom's Outlook when we drove home with all those gifts. I was actually able to ship everything home. 4 big boxes. Crazy!

A big thanks goes to my Mom and my Aunt Maxie for helping me out with the shipping. I couldn't have done it without them!

Sunday my BFF's (Kristi, Collie, and Karrie) had our annual christmas brunch. Normally, the shindig is at Kristi's house where we cook, drink, and be merry. But this year, we decided to splurge a bit and have brunch at the famous Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. It is a gorgeous hotel with a renowned brunch. They didn't let us down. The place was beautifully decorated and the food was fantastic.


View of the front of the hotel. With the mountains in the background, I was in heaven!



The Gang. Along with a rare shot of a me 7 months pregnant.



A picture is worth a thousand words. Karrie branched out and tried her first oyster on the half shell. ha! Sorry Karrie, this one was just too good!


I loved this gingerbread house display.

















As much as fun as it was, it is always good to be back at home. I was exhausted and needed to recoup. Now we are grounded for a while. I can't travel after January so we will be sticking around home. Our focus now is prepping for the Baby Bean. March and April will be busy with visitors and before we know it, it will be summer. How the time flies!

The Bean and The Butterball

Whew! We finally have a couple of weeks to breathe and catch up a bit. That means also catching up with the blogging.

Let's see....where to start......

I guess I will take it one post at a time. First, an update on The Bean.
There have been a LOT of changes since the last update. I have officially lost count of what week I am in. I think its somewhere around 27 or 28. We go for a checkup tomorrow, so I will find out for sure then. I think I am at 28 weeks because this is the last appointment before we go to an every-two-week appointment schedule which means I have entered into the 3rd trimester. wow....

Anyway, here is a quick recap of the latest in the preggo world:

• Kicks, punches, and what I refer to as "squirmies", are a regular occurrence now. It's pretty cool except when she really gives me a good one and then I yelp like a dog. Gabe still can't feel her which is a big bummer. Just when I think he might be able to, he puts his hand on my belly and she goes quiet. Little stinker. Is this a sign of things to come?? oh boy....


• She is growing like crazy. Of course, this also means I am growing like crazy too. I think I am starting to look like the butterball turkey we ate for Thanksgiving!


• I grow out of clothes in record time. Yesterday I fit into my favorite maternity pants, today I can barely get them on. Shirts that fit a few days ago, can't even fit around my butterball belly now. Crazy!


• While in Denver last weekend, I started sleeping with a body pillow. Right on schedule. I fear my days of blissful sleep are coming to an end soon. They will be sorely missed.


• My new favorite thing: maternity belts.


• Simple walking and talking are a chore now. I actually lose my breath when I talk. What gives!?


• Yesterday, while in the grocery store, the checker asked me when I was due. I said "March". She replied "Are you going to make it?".....enough said.


• So far, its been a by-the-book pregnancy for which we are very fortunate. I am a little nervous for the final lap. Hopefully, it will go smoothly.


• There is still a lot to do. We hope to have a hospital chosen by the end of this week when we tour the 2nd of the 2 choices. We will start to go to all our "new parent" classes (birthing, nursing, and infant CPR) starting in January, and need to decide on a pediatrician for the bean.


• I just realized I have 7 weeks of work left and 12 weeks until the big day.....trying not to hyperventilate!

Work on the nursery finally began this weekend. The bedroom set that is currently in there will go to Gabe's niece, Amanda, and her husband who are moving into their new house this weekend. We spent Saturday cleaning out the closet and drawers, which of course, leads to about 5 other re-organizing projects we have to do now. Once the room is empty, we can paint and then its furniture time! We finally decided on a furniture set after many agonizing months of research. I am so excited to get it!

Catching Up...

Well, I made it through finals...YIPEE and a second trip to Denver!!!! Now its catch up time.

Stay tuned for updated blogs as soon as I get all my Thank You cards done. I have lots to cover (Thanksgiving, baby shower, Bean update...and more!)

Behind

I apologize that I am horribly behind on blogging. I am horribly behind on everything right now. House is a mess, still need to finish the christmas decorations, have not given any thought to starting on the nursery, zero christmas shopping done, even my suitcase from our trip to Denver is still lying on the floor 1/2 unpacked. Need to update the blog with a Bean update, belated Thanksgiving wishes, recap of our trip to Denver (which was awesome). But, all of it will have to wait. For this is finals week. The week from hell.

The following assignments are due on Thursday:

• 5000 word research paper complete with 25 cited sources. I have 3500 words and 20 resources. Need a miracle.


• Final test. This is an online test, but its at least 2 hours of essay questions. Can't start this until the research paper is done.


• Oral presentation on Thursday for which I am not the slightest bit prepared.

Today is Tuesday.....

This is me today:

This will probably be me tomorrow....

Oh and did I mention I am going back to Denver on Friday? Time to pack? I think not....