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....

Sometimes, life just isn't fair...

This last weekend, Gabe and I drove down to Aurora, MO to see his parents and go to Silver Dollar City to look at rocking chairs that I have been coveting for at least 5 years. We now finally have a good excuse to buy one. They are beautiful, sturdy, solid wood, handmade rocking chairs with big comfy cushions. I was so excited to get down and see them. Gabe and I have been going to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO every year since we have started dating. It’s a fabulous place, especially at Christmas. A big entertainment park with rides and food and shops all based on old time America. They have lots of great shops full of handmade art, crafts, and furniture…..like rocking chairs. Every year, we would go into the furniture store and I would drool over the rocking chairs. I would sit in every one and dream of having my own one day. So when we found out we were pregnant, I immediately thought of these rocking chairs that I have been dreaming of all this time. And where I will put it in the nursery. And what color cushions I will get. And how after babies, we will use it forever in our family room until we can hand it down to our kids…..oh boy, I really can’t wait to get down there!

After a ill-fated drive south (something to do with a lot of dog vomit, but I will spare you the details), we finally make it. I practically run to the store and make a bee-line to the room with the chairs. Only…..no chairs. Where are the chairs????? I start to panic.

I ask the salesman, “where are all your rocking chairs?”.

“We have one on display in the very back”, he says.

ONE????? I run to the back to the one chair. Nope, not the one. “Where are all the others?”, I ask. “We don’t display them anymore and only have two styles still available to order”, replies the salesman.

Devastation.

The kind salesman takes out the catalog and shows me what styles are left. I point to one that sort of looks like the one I like. Maybe, just maybe I might get lucky? He punches numbers on his calculator and shows me the price. $1100.00 with the ottoman. Ummm…No. Devastated.

In the end, I learned a valuable lesson. About the emotional attachment for a piece of furniture. A materialistic thing. This isn't what life is about. We will get a rocking chair and it will be great and wonderful. It will most likely be from one of those big furniture superstores with bargain prices on factory made knock-offs. I mean, who needs a 1,000 dollar rocking chair anyway?? Not us. Because let's face it, in the big picture, there is much more to life than the perfect rocking chair.