Christmas #1

We celebrated our family Christmas on December 20, a few days before coming to Texas. Elise got some new chairs for her table (that match the kitchen that she will get for her birthday) as well as a Plan Toys cutting board with wooden fruit, a set of Haba rolling turtles, and some Christmas books. She loved the chairs and the toys and I would give them all 5 stars. It helps that I have been researching different toys for a long time and got really good deals (about 50% off) on all of them! When she walked into the room, she made a beeline for the wrapped presents and picked them up one at a time, saying "This is for Elise!" and "This is for Elise too!"








This wasn't a Christmas present but I thought it was a cute picture anyway... she got this for her first birthday from the Bundts. She was very focused on it!

Looking for the baby...

20 weeks = halfway there

I am now past the halfway point...assuming baby boy doesn't make a fashionably late entrance like his big sister! I've been able to work out quite a bit lately and I feel really good. Running is starting to get uncomfortable because the baby (or something) is pushing on my bladder and I feel like I have to pee the whole time I am running! Ugh. I've been VERY hungry the last few weeks and have managed to gain a few pounds... so I am now at -4ish. It might have helped that Mike and I just finished our second half gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream (in two weeks). It is a good thing that vanilla is the only flavor in our freezer right now because it doesn't tempt me at all, haha. I go back to the doctor tomorrow for my 20 week checkup. Here are the 20 week pictures that we took yesterday. I woke up this morning and felt waaay bigger (and my pants aren't nearly as comfortable to button today as they were a few days ago!) so I think the belly might actually be popping out.

This week we decided on two very important things. Baby Boy has a name now and it is perfect for him! We are super excited about it but we may wait until he is born to announce it. I will let you know. I also decided how I want to decorate his room. I can't find any bedding sets that I love, so I am going to decorate the room around some toys that I love instead! It probably won't be really decorated until we move in August since his room will also have a guest bed in it while we are in this house.




Here is our first purchase for Baby Boy! I have wanted a rocker recliner for a LONG time and I am so excited to have one for this baby. It was delivered today and we are going to keep it in the play room while we are living here. At our next house, we'll either put it in the living room (it matches perfectly), play room (hopefully we will have one) or maybe one of the kids' rooms. It is super comfortable and will be great for reading books, nursing, rocking, cuddling, etc.



I have a bunch of Haba toys that I love and we plan to use some of them to decorate his room. I'll probably buy a few wall shelves to display some things. Here are some fun things I am eyeing to complement what we already have. This play rug looks like SO much fun.
I love this cute mobile and it hangs from the ceiling so you could put it over a crib or changing table.


These wall shelves are also adorable and I think it would be fun to put one by the changing table. I like the second one better because the little creatures are detachable but I don't think it matches as well.





My next task is to figure out the drape and sheet colors that will best match these things. I'll try to do another pregnancy update in a few weeks while we are in Texas.

Trip to Tennessee

Earlier this month, Elise and I got to fly to Nashville to visit my dear friend Laura and her little boy Braden! Laura and I have been friends since before our husbands deployed the first time and it has been so much fun to share in the pregnancy and parenting stages of life together. We do a pretty good job of keeping up with each other even though we haven't lived in the same state in two years. They are stationed at Fort Campbell. Elise and Braden are 3 months apart and they had a wonderful time playing with each other. We enjoyed hanging out, eating some yummy food, watching the kids play, and catching up while they were napping or sleeping. Here are some pictures from the trip. We look forward to seeing them again while we are living "close" (a 6 hour driving trip).

This isn't a great picture but you can see the remnants of Elise's first encounter with the sidewalk. It happened about 3 days before the trip.

Christmas 2010

Gorgeous White Ribbon Christmas 5x7 folded card

Personalize your Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Pictures from Ultrasound

I finally scanned in some pictures of the big ultrasound last week. Sorry that they didn't make it in with the correct post!

Profile with hand

It's definitely a boy!

18 weeks and some AL pictures

I am now 18 weeks so I had to take another belly picture to compare with my first pregnancy. The baby is getting more and more active every day and I've even felt a few kicks from the outside with my hand on my stomach. I know it doesn't look like I've grown much, but I can definitely tell that the uterus is moving up higher. I usually feel the kicks around my belly button or slightly lower, so you can imagine where the baby is by looking at the pictures. I'm still able to comfortably button most of my pants. I've been feeling a lot better with a lot more energy but I'm still 6-7 lbs under my prepregnancy weight. This is even after eating chicken enchiladas, chips, queso, and ice cream for dinner last night! I'm starting to get a little frustrated. At this point with Elise, I was back to +0 after regaining the weight lost in the first trimester. I'm sure that the weight gain is coming soon because I've certainly gotten my appetite back! I even bought 2 half gallons of Blue Bell this week to help :)

Here is the actual belly (and this was right after we ate a huge brunch)...

18 weeks with Elise

On an unrelated note, Mike and I were very excited to go to a Third Day concert last night! They are one of our favorite bands and we've actually gotten to see them live during both times that we have lived in Alabama. They played at a civic center about 15 minutes from our house. Our friends Jen and Norvel came over to eat dinner with us and babysit Elise. They got a little more than they bargained for when she refused to go to bed and kept trying to climb out of her crib (this is VERY unlike her) but they persevered and she eventually went to sleep. We are thankful to have friends in the area and look forward to meeting more people in the future.

Here are a few pictures of our house. Elise is so lucky to have 4 playgrounds and 3 swing sets within sight from our house and when the weather is nice, we love to spend time outside. We live pretty close to the gym on post, so I enjoy running to the gym, doing a few weight machines, and then running back home. I'll post some pictures of the inside in my next post. I've also been meaning to send out an email with our new address, so if you would like to have it and I still haven't done that, feel free to email or text.

Yay for Shutterfly!

I am soooo excited about the 2010 Holiday Card Collection promotion that Shutterfly is offering for bloggers! Go to this page for details and you can get 50 free Christmas cards!

Shutterfly has a great selection of flat and folded Christmas cards and they are printed on great quality cardstock. If I choose a flat card, I would would have a hard time deciding between this classic 5x7 card and this adorable square card. I love the cards that allow you to use multiple pictures. You can even go to the Shutterfly website and play around with your own pictures in your favorite cards before you make your final selection.

The folded cards would also be fun because you could insert a Christmas letter or a personal note to your recipients. My favorite folded card designs are this one and this one.

I'm also in the process of creating the 2011 calendar for our parents and grandparents filled with family pictures from 2010. This is a Christmas tradition that we started last year and a great gift idea! There are so many different options for backgrounds and photo layouts and you can even insert pictures into specific calendar dates. To start creating your calendar, click here!

Thank you, Shutterfly, for making it easy to create Christmas cards and gifts!