So far behind...

I am so far behind this year. This baby has made me so exhausted that my normal Christmas schedule is way off. Usually I am completely done with Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving, have the house completely decorated, and Christmas cards ready to mail out. I am nowhere near done shopping, have a ton left to decorate, and haven't even decided how to start our Christmas cards. This goes against my nature and it's driving me crazy! On a brighter side, I did find these super cute gift tags at walmart photo. I used some old Christmas pics of Maggie & Tucker on them. Here is a pic of a few of the presents under the tree.

Thanksgiving

Travis and I just got back from visiting our parents for Thanksgiving. Pregnancy Brain took hold before we left apparently as I forgot my camera (I always have one on me at all times). When we got to Pine Bluff, Travis went to pull my camera out of my purse and all he found was the empty case. So we went down to Pine Bluff Wednesday & Thursday night. We had a great time visiting with Travis' family down there. Then we went to Batesville Friday night to my parents house. We got to eat the big dinner again and played several games. Maggie and Tucker CRASHED as soon as we got home and haven't moved since. It wears them out terribly. Had I not slept on the way home, I would've crashed too. So now we have laundry to do, Christmas light to hang, and the house to clean.

One thing that I am very thankful for is that most of my preggo symptoms are getting better. The nausea has begun to subside and the tiredness is slowly getting better. The worst thing right now has to be my sinuses. I have had TERRIBLE sinuses my whole life and they have been awful this entire pregnancy so far. They constantly drain so I am constantly coughing. I have coughed so hard recently that I've pulled that muscle that connects to my ribs. So it hurts really bad when I move or breathe. But other than that I'm feeling pretty good!

The Mantle

I forgot to post this awhile back. Here is a pic of our first mantle decorated for Christmas. We've never had a fireplace up until this year so I was so excited to hang our stockings on it. I can't believe that next year we will have one more to hang!!!

173!!!

We had our 2nd OB appointment today. Since I am only 9 weeks they knew they couldn't get a heartbeat with the doppler yet so we got to have an external ultrasound in order to hear the heartbeat. We got a few glimpses of our lil bean and got to hear/see the heartbeat. I couldn't believe how loud and fast it was! Heartrate was 173!!! Sounds like a girl to me!

After that we headed to the mall to go bra shopping. I'm overflowing already so I knew it was time to get re-measured. So we go to the store and the saleschick measures me-tells me my lovely new size-and I cry. Yes, I did. I cried right there in that store. I was so horrified by that number! I had gone up TWO...oh yes TWO cup sizes and one band size. I'm already a busty girl so this is terrifying! I'm only 9 weeks-this can't keep happening!!! So I walk out with two brand new, humongous bras in tow. I get home and realize I had grabbed the wrong band size-so I get to go back and face those sales people again after I made a fool of myself! Yay!:)

9 weeks

Our bean has grown into a grape!

Mama's Boy

Tucker has become such a "mama's boy" lately. I don't know if he knows something different is going on with me or if it's just that I've been stuck in bed or on the couch lately and he wants to cuddle but he is rarely far from my side. Most of the time he can be found laid up on me or next to me. Tonight he wanted to cuddle and Travis caught a few pics of us. Then I took one of him as he laid on my tummy. Yes, that's his beloved elephant in the picture with us as well! It's still hangin' on by a thread.

Elf Yourself #2

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf Yourself is baaack!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

TWILIGHT!!!

Well, I just got in from watching Twilight...it was really, really, really good. Of course there were parts of the book left out and some seriously cheesy special effects but I left the theatre totally satisfied and ready for the sequel (New Moon! I went with a bunch of ladies from work and had a GREAT time...I couldn't have asked for a better bunch of girls to spend my evening with.

Blog-o-versary!

Okay, this baby is draining every ounce of energy and braincells out of me. I forgot yesterday that it was my one year blog-o-versary!!! This past year has been very trying and rewarding-we took on one project after another, spent 6 stressful months dedicated to building a house, negotiated and sold a house to a non-English speaking family, lived in a tiny apartment, felt the joy and utter devastation of losing a baby, felt the fear and joy of getting pregnant again, grown closer to one another, and been thankful for every day given to us. Here's to another wonderful, event-filled year of blogging!

BOY OR GIRL???

I've added a poll on the sidebar where you can vote on whether you think Baby House is a BOY or a GIRL. Please vote on what you think...we won't find out until January but it's still fun to see what you think! :)

8 Weeks

Our little blueberry has now grown to the length of a kidney bean. It's getting longer! 2 months down! I'm feeling better as far as the nausea goes-but I've been super dooper tired lately. Utterly exhausted is more like it. As far as baby milestones goes-this week it starts twitching and moving on it's own. I can't wait to be able to feel that!

'Tis the season...

Well we got our two trees decorated completely today. This white tree is in the dining room. I decorated it in funky girlie colors and love how it turned out. Travis is going to build a platform for it to sit on and then I'm putting a zebra print skirt under it-I'll post pictures later when it's done. This mammoth tree is the one in our living room. It's done in red and white this year. We are both pleased at how it turned out and are relieved it's done. It took two whole days almost to decorate that bad boy! Travis made me a nervous wreck climbing all over that ladder. I've gotta find a skirt for it-I might just use some white fabric and bunch it up since it's going to be covered in gifts anyway! :) Now I can't wait to decorate the rest of the house!

Yes...we are putting it up already.

When we got home from Batesville we started putting up our new Christmas tree. We knew we couldn't put up our lil tiny ole' tree in the living room with those tall ceilings. So we went out and splurged on a 12 footer. I had no idea how long it would take to put it up. Travis worked pretty much all day to just get it together. We've started putting some ornaments on but I'm sure it'll be tomorrow before it's completly done.

Our Weekend

This weekend, we went to Batesville to visit my parents and to go to Little Rock to do some shopping. We had a great time. In Little Rock we went to Garden Ridge for some Christmas shopping. Then we were off to Babies R' Us to dream and fantasize about what we are going to buy for the baby. What an amazing store that is. I swear we drooled all through that store. Before we left we stopped at Motherhood Maternity. I bought two shirts on sale and a nightgown that came with a matching onesie...too cute! Traveling sure wears out the dogs and they have both crashed since we've been home.

Ahhh, more relief.

Thanks so much girls for the ginger ale suggestion. I've been drinking one in the morning and I suddenly realized my nausea is waaaay better during the day. I'm able to get so much more teaching done! Even though ginger ale is not my favorite drink by a landslide, it sure has helped me lately!

Oh, yeah! I got the tickets...

I heard that Twilight tickets were on sale already for the premiere on Nov. 21st. So after work Tuesday I rushed over to the theater and bought 10 tickets for me and some girls at work. I think the kid behind the counter thought I was a lil bit crazy since I was so pumped to get them!

7 Weeks

I'm 7 weeks today! Our bean has graduated to a blueberry. It doubled in size this week alone! It's developing away in there and getting bigger each day. It sure has let me know it's there lately. My symptoms have kicked in full force!

Weirdo

I caught Maggie hangin' in the shower today. Just chillin'. Weirdo.

Ahhh, relief. Well sort of.

Okay, the nausea has kicked in full force today. So far it's been off and on & nothing too bad. Today I felt pretty icky for the most part...I feel like I'm just trying to keep my head above water while teaching. I had heard that peppermints help with nausea so my wonderful hubbie brought me a bag of peppermints today at work. I was skeptical...but it actually did work a little bit. It's no miracle cure by any means but it did give me some relief. We had a Chili Supper and Math & Science night at school today so I'm just now getting home. I'm pretty much whooped and ready for bed. These long workdays are rough! But as odd as it may be...I am so thankful for these pregnancy symptoms. The exhaustion, nausea, sore boobies. Give it all to me if that's what it takes to get this little one growin and healthy!

Layne

Here's another name I finished last week. It's for an older boy who's bedroom was done in racing.

Company

This weekend we had all of Travis' family over to stay with us. His parents from Pine Bluff, sister from Little Rock, and brother, sister in law, niece, & nephew from Rogers. We had a packed house and had a great time visiting with everyone. We didn't take any pictures except for this one of Tanya's dog GiGi who was less than enthused when anyone approached her. Here she had crawled into a cubby hole in our bench.

Lil' Howl

We've been looking for a ceramic Red-Wolf for the yard. We need to compete with all those hogs around here. :) We didn't want to drop $100 on one or have a large wierd wolf in the yard. We found this little guy at a local shop and thought he was too cute. He was only $30 painted and he makes a great mailbox topper. We've already had several people slow down to get a closer look at him!

Pregnancy Brain

Okay, I may be suffering from a lil' bit of preggo brain. Travis called me at work today laughing hysterically. Apparently while home at lunch went to get something out of the dishwasher (which I ran before going to bed last night). When he opened it up, this is what he saw. Apparently I forgot to unwrap the dishwasher tablet...

Meet Baby House

We had our first OB appointment this afternoon and I was really nervous all day about seeing his/her heartbeat during the ultrasound. But we did! It was the most amazing, breathtaking thing I've ever seen. That little blip was just a beating away! We saw the baby, the heartbeat, and even got to listen to the heartbeat which was incredible. Baby H.'s heartrate was 114 (it needed to be at least 100). Travis and I both got teary eyed during the ultrasound. It was the first time it felt real to either one of us. We are so blessed to have been given this gift. We were so excited to get to meet Baby H. for the first time!

6 weeks

Our baby is now the size of a lentil. We've reached the 6 week mark which is when the lovely symptoms are supposed to settle in. I did have my first re-visit of lunch yesterday. Lovely! Tomorrow is our all important first ob appointment where we will do an ultrasound to check the viability of the pregnancy. I'm terrified to get bad news-I guess what happened before has jaded me a bit. But I'm excited to possibly see our lil' bean's heartbeat as well! Trav and I are just counting down the minutes to go to the doctor. The appointment is at 1:00 but will most likely take a long time since we'll have to do all the bloodwork and stuff as well. Be praying for us to recieve good news tomorrow!