Happy New Year!!!

As you can tell by the time I am posting this we didn't have a whole lot going on on New Year's Eve which is just how we like it! We just got back from dinner with Jaclyn and Corey at Shogun. Neither one of us had big plans and we hadn't seen each other in awhile so we decided that we would go out to dinner. Some how all the stars aligned just right and we didn't have to wait long for a table and we had a wonderful time! We spent dinner catching up and chatting about baby stuff. I miss not seeing her everyday but hopefully since the holidays are winding down we will be able to get together more.

In baby news, I am 28 weeks which means only 12 more to go!!!! I am just beside myself with excitement! Brent has put up a counter on our computer counting down the days. I haven't decided if I like it or if it annoys me. Every time I turn on the computer it is the first thing that pops up and it makes me anxious and makes me realize there is so much we still have to do. I'm hoping to get started on Belle's room next week. I have lots to make and need to get on it. I told my Nanny to clear her schedule for the next couple of weekends that we had sewing to do. She was thrilled! :) The clock it ticking and I have got to get on the ball! So if I seem scattered over the next couple of months excuse me, I've got too much on the brain!

Here I am at 28 weeks!

Brent, me, Jac, and Corey

The pregnant chicks. Thanks to Brent's beautiful angle, I look like I could eat Jac!

Me and Brentie. Too bad he couldn't tell me BEFORE the picture to fix myself!

28 Week Check Up

I had my monthly doctor's appointment today. As usually everything was looking and sounding good. Well, everything but the weight I gained! I literally almost fainted when I did the math in my head on how much I gained! I made the nurse double check the numbers praying that I had miscalculated. Sadly I hadn't. She told me I should have two spikes in weight, one early on and then another. I told her I better not have another one since I was already at the 7 month mark! They may have to pick me up off the floor next time! Of course the doctor found no concern in the number but she wouldn't. She ain't the one packin' on the pounds! She tried to comfort me in saying it was just Christmas weight and that I was still right on track. I was NOT comforted! I was bound and determined not to tell Brent because I feel there are things a husband shouldn't know about their wives, weight being one of them. But as soon as I called he asked and begged me to tell him. I made him swear he wouldn't freak out or say anything about it IF I told him. He agreed and I told my weight. Being the good husband he is, he told me that it was no big deal and that Belle needed to grow. Ahh, good husband...until he got home and called me big momma! Excuse me?! He almost lost his life after that one!

I'm trying not to be one of those pregnant women who trips over the amount of weight they gain. I know I'm still not that big and I know that I need to gain for Belle and that is fine. I'm just thinking about all the work I'm going to have to do after she is born to get it off and let me tell you, me and exercising just don't go hand in hand! I'm not a very motivated person when it comes to exercising so I'm afraid I will find excuses not to. Hopefully with it being spring after she is born I will be more willing to go out and walk and be active. If not, strap a 'Wide Load' sticker to my hindend!

Our Last Christmas

Brent and I enjoyed our last calm Christmas before children enter into our lives and bring Christmas alive again! When we were done opening our gifts at my parent's, we all looked around and realized gone are the days of our normal Christmas. Next year paper will be flying and toys will once again need to be assembled as soon as they are opened. Granted Belle will only be 9 months by Christmas next year but it will only be the beginning. I am actually quite excited about it! I have enjoyed Brent and I being able to sleep in on Christmas morning and starting our day off with just each other exchanging gifts. But the thought of having a baby around next Christmas makes me smile. We will all get excited once again about Santa coming and what surprises he will bring! It will definitely be interesting around here next year.

As our last Christmas, we did our normal routine, well kind of. Normally my parents, my brother, and Brent and I go out to eat somewhere in Bowling Green and walk around the mall to watch all the last minute shoppers scurry around. This year, however, my Dad felt like cooking so we invited my grandparents over for dinner at my parent's house. He cooked my favorite meal in the world and actually has become Brent favorite as well, Jambalaya! My dad was born in New Orleans so we have always enjoyed the Cajun cuisine. I lied, I haven't always enjoyed it but I have grown to love it! Jambalaya is by far my favorite but red beans and rice comes in a close second.

Anyway, we had a nice dinner with my grandmothers and later that night my mom, Brent and I headed off to our church's Christmas Eve service. This was a first for me and my mom and we loved it! Brent and his family have always gone on Christmas Eve and I thought it was the neatest thing and a great way to start your Christmas Day. The service was wonderful and I think we have started a new tradition.

Christmas Day started with Brent and I exchanging our stocking. We decided when we got married that for now we will just get stocking stuffers for each other and exchange on Christmas. After gifts it was time to head back to my parent's for brunch and open gifts with them. When all the packages were open, it was nap time before we headed to my Nanny's to have Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Our Christmas Day was full of gifts and food, but it wasn't over yet.

Saturday after shopping with my mom and brother's girlfriend, Leslie, we headed to my dad's mom's house for dinner and presents with that side of the family. Brent had to work of course so he missed out on the festivities but I made sure I brought him a full plate of leftovers for dinner!

Friday we will be heading to Muncie to celebrate with Brent's family. Our holidays are always extended and we love it!

Belle is a Genius!

Despite Belle being in the complete dark and not having any anatomy classes, the girl knows exactly where my bladder is and knows the exact moment I have to pee! She has decided to combine her knowledge of anatomy and her moving skills to create some very interesting moments. The first time she figured out where my bladder was, was yesterday in church. I peed before we left for church, had no liquids between the house and church, but still after the second song I had the urge to pee. Since it was not an overwhelming urge I figured I could hold it. And I would have if Belle hadn't started playing volleyball (I would say soccer but that is a forbidden word in our house. Brent has stated under NO circumstances will our children play soccer!) with my bladder. And of course we had to go into extra stanzas! I was near tears by the time I made it to the bathroom!

Then today I was working and once again got just a slight urge to pee. I was trying to finish up what I was doing before making a beeline yet again to the bathroom when Belle decide to come alive and spike my bladder! I jumped up so fast you would have thought someone yelled "fire!" I'm praying that she will get bored with this new hobby but I'm afraid it could only get worse as she gets bigger! I may have to grab some Depends! Haha!

(If any of the above for mentioned is too much information for you, I apologize. This is who I am and this is what you get when you read my blog! You are only getting a small glimpse of what my family has had to endure for 26 years!)

In other news, this weekend my mom, Brent, and I headed down to Rivergate to do a little last minute Christmas shopping and to start our baby register. We dropped Mom off at the mall and headed to Babies R Us. WOW! is that store huge or what! We were completely overwhelmed and spent 2 hours in there! Luckily we found several things that we liked and got a good head start on our registry plus we found a crib! We, and when I say we I mean Brent, was stressin' because we hadn't decided on a crib. We saw this one at the store and liked it well enough to go ahead and buy it. It was a big relief and we are so glad we have that checked off our list.

I was so excited about our new purchase that I made Brent put it together that night. He was thrilled! I'm exaggerating because it had been a long day of shopping, we had just gotten home from dinner with some friends and it was 9 o'clock at night and he was looking forward to relaxing! But being the wonderful husband he is, he satisfied his pregnant wife and put the crib together.

Here are a few pictures of my handyman husband...oh and he informed me when I got the camera out that there would be NO posing! HA! Too funny! As if I wanted him to pose!

Belle's new bed!

Things I Can No Longer Do...

1. Sleep through the night without having to get up to pee. This isn't anything new but at this point it is down right annoying!

2. Paint my toenails.

3. Bend down to put on socks and shoes. Even though I'm not very big, my body still isn't used to packin' the extra weight and bending has become a breathe taking experience, literally.

4. Ride in Brent's car. This is actually a huge perk! I HATE his car or go cart as I call it. I have to roll in and roll out since it sits so low to the ground. Last week it just became frustrating so I told him I would no longer ride in his car.

5. Get up off the floor as quickly as I used to. IF I have to get down on the floor, there is a lot of grunting and heavy breathing when getting up.

I know this list will only get longer as I continue to get bigger (and yes I'm getting bigger every week despite what some of you think!) and that's fine. It gives me a great excuse not to do stuff. I'm not sure how many times I have already told Brent "I can't do that because I'm pregnant." He typically rolls his eyes because I say it on the simplest tasks like helping bring in the groceries. Bless his heart this road hasn't been easy for him!

In other news, Belle has started to really kick and move around. So much so that our new nightly entertainment is watching her kick my belly out! Each month brings a new experience and I can't wait to see what happens next month!

Christmas Is In Full Swing

Have mercy! This is the first time I have had a moments time in two days! Christmas is in full swing and we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off with all the Christmas parties and Christmas shopping. My week started with an ornament swap with a group of ladies from my old church. Since switching churches, I haven't seen many of these women in awhile so it was nice seeing them and catching up. The house was full of chatty women and the most amazing food! I have never seen such a spread of finger foods and my poor plate was overflowing! After filling our bellies it was time to swap ornaments. It was very simple, you drew a number and when it was your number was called, you picked out the gift of your choice. There was no "stealing" from one another; whatever gift you opened you left with. Some ornaments were traditional and gorgeous and others were on the funny side. I think I remember seeing a huge green glass frog with a Santa hat!

During the week Brent and I did a little Christmas shopping. The stores didn't really have what we were looking for so we did a little online shopping when we got home. I LOVE online shopping! No crowds, no lines, no women shoving you out of their way! Internet is a wonderful thing!

Friday night I had my monthly Bunco game and it being Christmastime we invited the boys and had a little Christmas party. The food was wonderful (thanks, Nat!!!) and we had the best time. Brent wasn't feeling playing Bunco, but some of the other husbands did and what a blast they had! I have never laughed so hard at a grown man screaming Bunco and getting so excited! Our games are usually pretty quite because most of us are worn out from a days work so we can't roll dice, count and talk at the same time. Friday night there was NEVER a quiet moment or dull one for that matter! One of the husbands said when we were at his house we looked like the Golden Girls rolling dice! Boys are just a lot more vocal and get into the game a lot more than we do. I'm not sure if we can handle their excitement every month but we are definitely going to have to do that again and hopefully I can get Brent in the game.

Saturday I had a full day. I had to drop Colt off at the groomer early that morning, went and did my grocery shopping before the crowd hit Wal-Mart, unloaded the car, then headed back out to meet my mom and Nanny at the mall for some Christmas shopping. I got a few more people knocked off my list but I still have so much more to do. Town was crazy so by early evening I was ready to head home. Which was good because I still had a cake to bake for our Sunday School progressive dinner that night. I'm not sure I sat down yesterday and when I landed in bed around 10:30, I was so exhausted I couldn't even close my eyes!

Thank goodness this week is not as busy..yet anyway. I'm sure I will find a million things that I need to do, but today I am relaxing. I have already had my 2 1/2 hour nap (yep I slept that long and I promise I will still go to bed at 10!) and I am about to get ready to go to my parent's church to watch my mom's Christmas program. It is a great way to get in the Christmas spirit!

24 weeks

Here I am at 6 months and I finally look pregnant!!! And look, my butt even sticks out like a pregnant woman's! I can finally no longer zipper up my non-maternity pants and I have out grown my normal tops. Brent still says there's not much there, and he's right, but I can tell a big difference. Why just the other day I walked past our full length mirror and had to go back and check out my rump. I'm not sure why that part of your anatomy gets bigger but when I took a second look 'Baby Got Back' started playing in my head! :) I still feel great and am doing well. I'm starting to get the hang of sleeping on my sides but a new phenomenon has entered my life. It's called a Charlie Horse. Friday night I got three of them, 2 right in a row on opposite legs. It is not a fun way to wake up in the middle of the night nor is it a good time to find out that your arm is completely asleep. Trying to rub it out becomes twice as painful. On the third Charlie Horse, rubbing it wasn't working so I tried to walk it off. Bad idea. My foot decided that it would curl up so it made it impossible to walk on it. After many attempts at trying to stand on it, I bit the bullet, let a few whimpers and just put all my weight on it. Thank goodness that did the trick because I couldn't stand the pain any longer. Through it all, my husband never broke his stride in snoring! The kid can sleep through anything! Baby monitor is definitely going on his side turned all the way up!

We spent our weekend with Brent's good friend from college, Matt, his wife, and their unbelievably precious 4 month old daughter. Since her birth, we have yet to lay eyes on Maci so this was our first meeting and she was sooo adorable. She came in grinning and didn't stop! She was the best baby and it was so fun having a baby in the house. It definitely made us both anxious to have own here.

Our weekend was very relaxing as it usually is when we get together. We did a little shopping on Saturday then came home to watch some football and just hang out. We had a wonderful weekend and our only wish is that we lived closer to each other. Hopefully we will be able to get together one more time before Belle comes. After that it could get interesting having 2 babies around!

Belle Has A BFF!!!

How is that Belle has a best friend forever and she isn't even born yet? Well, today Jaclyn went to the doctor to find out what she will be having and she found out that she is having a GIRL!!! I'm sure she was shocked to find out that her bundle of joy was a girl because all a long she was convinced it was a boy. She wasn't sure why she thought that; just assumed she would have a boy first. Her husband, Corey, was convinced up until a couple of weeks ago then decided that he thought it would be a girl. Looks like he was right!

Jac, I am so happy for you two! It is so exciting finally knowing what you are having and makes shopping 100 times better! You are going to be a wonderful mother and Baby Konow will be extremely blessed having you and Corey has parents! I love y'all!