Week 30

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!! :)

Well this week was pretty hectic. It started off pretty rocky when I had my second glucose tolerance test and was told that I failed the fasting blood sugar. So now I have to test my sugars 4 times a day for a week so they gauge whether or not I need medication. Very nice thing right in the middle of the holidays when the BEST food is around. We'll see how that goes after the week is up. We had a very good Christmas. My mom, brothers, and sister came down to visit and we all just hung out, ate food, and played with all of our new stuff. It was a good time! We woke up Christmas morning and opened presents...here are some pictures.

Christmas Tree

Here is our tree with all of our presents on Christmas morning.

Here is a picture of each person opening presents...

Caroline

Will

Mom

Andy

Ed

Hope

Me

Later on Christmas Day after all our presents were opened and we had showers we decided to go to the beach. It was a nice day, warm enough for shorts and t-shirts. Here are some pictures.

It was so nice to have everyone down at our house. Ed and I are so grateful to be able to spend Christmas with each other...FINALLY! :) It's hard to believe that next year it will be Baby's First Christmas. We will have a 9 month old!! Crazy! We can't wait!

Week 29

Yay it is almost Christmas!! :) We have been busy preparing for family to come visit. My mom, brothers Andy & Will, and sister Caroline are all coming to visit. We're pretty excited about "hosting" Christmas for the first time at our house. After Christmas we're hoping to see Ed's mom and Harvin as well as his Aunt Kathy, Uncle John, and cousins. It will be a great holiday season. So this weekend in our preparations we cleaned the house from top to bottom, did all the laundry, cleared out the nursery for air mattresses, planned out meals, went shopping, and planned out some fun stuff to do. Since we did so much work Friday and Saturday we just hung out today and went to a bar to watch the Steelers game (it didn't air on tv here). It was a disappointing game, but it's okay b/c they're still going to the playoffs. The bar was pretty neat though, it was ALL Steelers fans and packed to the brim. Pretty exciting. We're happy that we found a place to go when the games aren't on tv. We felt like we were watching the game in Pittsburgh. Ed is on leave (yay!) and I have to work tomorrow and Tuesday...but then I have 5 days off including Christmas and Christmas eve. It will be our first Christmas we actually get to spend together in 5 years I think. We are grateful to be able to celebrate the holidays together. Here is the latest belly picture...

Ultrasound!

Today we went for our 3-d/4-d ultrasound. Here are some of the clips from the session. No, we still don't know what the baby will be. We will find out in March along with everyone else. :) Enjoy!

This week has been great so far. We're really starting to get into the Christmas spirit. We've been recording all the Christmas movies on tv and watching them. Some of our all time favorites are A Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and It's a Wonderful Life. It's been especially nice this year since we don't really go out much anymore. After a long day at work it's nice to turn on the Christmas lights in the living room and curl up with a blanket on the couch. Hope loves "family time" on the couch. Last night we had a Christmas party for my work. Before we left we attempted to get some pictures in front of the Christmas tree by using the timer on the camera. Here are some of our shots. Yes my belly is getting ridiculously large. We also took some new belly shots and I will put those down at the bottom of this post.

Back to the Christmas party...People were supposed to bring their spouses, but no one did so it was Ed and 5 women sitting around a table doing word searches with Christmas music in the background. It was pretty cute b/c they were asking him all about the Navy and his job. He's such a good sport. We did an ornament exchange and had cookies and punch. We also got a secret santa gift from someone in our neighborhood and we need to keep the tradition going. We have to pick someone in the neighborhood, put a gift on their doorstep, ring their doorbell, and get away before they answer the door. It's a pretty fun game.

Last Friday we went to a doctor's appointment and I had to do my glucose tolerance test. Basically you drink this cold orange drink that kind of looks/tastes like orange soda, but with way more sugar. You have 5 minutes to drink it and then you have to sit there for an hour. After the hour they draw some blood and test it to see if your body processed it or not. If you get <140>

So here are the rest of the belly pictures...

Ed thought this was a cool shot from this angle.

Here's the traditional side view that we've been doing.

Here's a scary view from the front. I think my belly button is going to pop out soon and it really freaks me out. I can't believe I'm putting this online, but here you go. Enjoy!

Week 27

This week started off kind of rough. I started it off by getting rear-ended in my brand new car. No one was hurt, but I was really sad that my brand new car got hit by a crazy old lady. Luckily the Highlander did it's job and took the hit really well. We have a few knicks and scratches on our bumper and the ladies 1994 station wagon is totalled...the whole front end is smashed in. We're getting everything fixed (thank goodness she had insurance) so the car will be good as new. Saturday night Ed went to Orlando to a Misfits concert with his friend Tyson. I decided that since I was home alone I would watch chick flicks and make a huge banana split. I took pictures...it was DELICIOUS!! :) Here are the steps to a pregnant woman's heart...

Step 1:Line bowl with cut up banana pieces.

Step 2: Add icecream of choice. This particular night I was feeling Neopolitan.

Step 3: Add syrup(s) of choice. This one has fudge, caramel, and marshmallow.

Step 4: Add whipped cream. I prefer the extra creamy kind.

Step 5: Add cherry on top (or in my case like 5 or 6...whatever looks good). :)

Step 6 is to obviously devour the whole thing and don't feel guilty about it. :)

So the rest of the week was kind of a bust too. I worked Sunday and then Monday Ed came home sick and has been getting over it since. He was on the couch for a good 4 days pretty much just resting and taking his medicines. I took the week off to relax with him.

Thursday was my birthday (yes I am old now) and we spent the day relaxing. Well I spent the morning at the dentist and ended up getting a cavity filled and then we decided to get milkshakes and watch season 2 of The Office for the rest of the day. It was quite nice to sit around in my sweats all day. Ed finally let me open my presents that I had been looking at under the tree for days. He got me a pink ipod...it's the cutest thing ever. Yes not only am I old, but I'm the last person on the earth to own an ipod. I also got some jewelry from my grandma that was gorgeous (of course). She got me a charm for my bracelet and a pair of amethyst and diamond white gold earrings to match the ring she got me for college graduation. I got some wonderful cards and thoughtful birthday wishes from friends on facebook and myspace. All in all it was a good day.

Week 26

Clemson vs USC

The big game that we wait for ALL year!! This weekend we had friends over and it was a lot of fun. We cooked a bunch of food and I baked a cookie cake and cupcakes that Ed and I decorated. My personal favorite was the "house divided" cookie cake. It was pretty and delicious. Ed decorated the USC cupcakes (he says he is not a pastry chef). I baked red velvet cupcakes so that the insides were garnet. For Clemson I made orange cupcakes and put tiger paws on them.

We got some cute pictures that day. My jersey barely fit my big belly and Hope wore her jersey and Clemson collar.
We had a great time and Clemson won once again so Hope gets to keep all of her Clemson stuff for the year. :) Just for the record, the beer I am holding in the first picture is Non-Alcoholic. Kind of tastes disgusting, but I had to feel cool and use my Clemson coozie. It was a fun day. After the game we played Rock Band and had a singing contest. Crystal was the big winner. She is the Rock Band singing Champion! Good times!

Week 25

Happy Thanksgiving!


We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving with each other and the dog. It was a family day. We got a later start than we had planned because the day before I suddenly got really sick and we ended up in the hospital. Everything turned out fine, but it was a little scary and we didn't get home until late. When we woke up we started cooking the turkey and any kind of pre-cooking that could be accomplished. Once we got all of that under control we decided to play Christmas music and put up all of our decorations. We got a lot done. We decorated the whole living room by putting up the tree and also decorated the banister. There are colored lights everywhere and it is so beautiful! We put up the other tree in the dining room and also the Christmas village that we love so much. Everything turned out beautifully. Here are some pictures...







That was pretty much the extent of our Thanksgiving. We ate our big dinner after we decorated and it was delicious! This weekend we are having people over for the Clemson/USC game. :) Go TIGERS!