Christmas 2013 {Part 2}

On Christmas Eve, Sutton and Daddy spent the night sleeping out in the living room by the tree. I just love that they did this! Sutton was so excited about it too. I think it went mostly well…but what do I know…I was sleeping peacefully in my bed with my dog. :)

Sutton came in my room and told me to get up. Then Daddy started frying some bacon and making cinnamon rolls, while I made pancakes and Sutton got a pre-breakfast sucker.

We scarfed our yummy breakfast down and took a few photos.

Then it was time for presents! We had a hard time not going overboard for our awesome dude this year. He got lots of cool stuff. We were also dog-sitting my parents dogs while they were in Utah, so that's why you may see some extra canines in the background.

Movie...

His own digital camera (he says he's gonna come with me to weddings now because he's a photographer too)...

Some wooden fruit that he can "cut"...

A semi car carrier...

A cute, cinnamon roll-covered face...

My brother got Adam a bunch of tools for Christmas, so he had to use his new saw to open a gift.

And Sutton thought the saw was too loud.

A fun train set...

Mommy got an awesome new rain shower head.

And a back and shoulder massager that is wonderful.

Adam's brother Matt and his girlfriend Shay stayed out in our studio while they were here for Christmas. Sutton wanted uncle Matt to help him open his big gift.

A RC monster truck!

They had to try it out.

Then we finished up by emptying our stockings. This was the first year we've done stockings at our house and it was fun!

After we played with our gifts for awhile and got showered and dressed, we took a family photo and then headed over to the Chinese buffet for lunch with Matt and Shay.

…which is where I ate too much and threw up in the parking lot. Christmas memories. :)

Christmas 2013 {Part 1}

My parents were gone over Christmas this year because they flew out the Monday before to visit my brother in Utah and to meet their new grandbaby, Carson. So we celebrated with them a bit early on the Saturday before.

The day was full of freezing rain that turned to snow, which was fun if you're able to stay inside, but not so fun when you have to drive (and we were glad it stuck around so we could have a white Christmas!). Luckily, the 'rents made it to and from our house without incident. They came over in the afternoon so that my mom and I could do a puzzle while Sutton was napping. We were still working on it when he woke up, and then he wanted to help...so we got out his little Thomas puzzle instead.

With our finished puzzles.



Sutton found Papa Bruce's glasses and had to try them out.

Traditionally, we get together with my family on Christmas Eve and make a supper out of all of our favorite foods. We all get to choose a fun thing to make. This year, we kept it pretty small, and the ONE THING I wanted got voted out because we had "plenty of other stuff." Whatever. I'm just a little bitter. I'll just have to make my tuna mac 'n cheese another time. :) We had chips and guacamole, bacon-wrapped scallops, no-bake cookies, fruit kabobs and fruit dip, Hawaiian sandwiches, deviled eggs, and chicken and sweet potatoes. Then it was time for presents.

Papa made Sutton a really neat barn and they gave him a tub of plastic animals to put in it. I didn't get a good photo of that, but you can see the top of the barn in the bottom left corner of this photo.

My dad was like the dog whisperer that night...all the dogs kept flocking to him. Annie didn't leave his lap much.

My parents bought us the board game Blokus, so after the adults played a round, Sutton wanted to play his own game with it.

And Cooper needed to be included.

Daddy and Sutton played monster truck games on the iPad.

My dad acquired another dog.

They brought over our presents in a big Sutton-sized box that immediately became a rocket ship and got filled with pillows and toys so he could fly to the moon. That box has been a fave around here ever since.

...and the final dog took his place at my dad's feet.

31 Weeks {Baby #2}

How far along? 31 weeks

Weight gain: I don't want to know. :)

Baby is the size of a(n): Pineapple, though once again, this one's probably bigger.

Food cravings/aversions: Milk, chocolate, pineapple, pizza.

Sleeping: Getting up several times per night to use the bathroom. Still lots of turning and lots of dreams.

Milestones: I'm now 8 months pregnant. Since pregnancy is 9 months, that means we're CLOSE.

How I'm Feeling: Like I've run out of room for this little guy. I feel him in my ribs, so I can't ever slouch, and he loves to dance on my bladder. It's harder and harder to get up from sitting or out of a car.

Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: Today, we went out to lunch at the Chinese buffet as is our Christmas tradition. I ate too much and ended up throwing up in the parking lot behind a snow hill. Not one of my finer moments.

I thought it might be kinda fun to compare my belly from when I was 31 weeks pregnant with Sutton (left) to this time. I think they're pretty close...right? Though I look much younger in the one on the left... :)

Our Belly Photos

I asked my friend and amazing photographer Jaclyn to do some maternity photos for us a few months ago. We planned it for this past Monday, which was a little earlier in my pregnancy than I generally tell people to have these kinds of photos taken. But with the holidays and surrounding busy-ness, we figured it'd be easiest. I'm so glad we did them early! I will only get bigger from here. :)

Jaclyn did such an amazing job...I can't say enough about how much I love these and how I will treasure them forever. I'm so glad we took belly photos with both our boys...I know how quickly I will forget what I looked like pregnant! Also, the fact that I didn't do any touching up myself to these is saying a lot to her talent/expertise. Don't get me wrong...she made some edits...but usually I'm overly critical about how I look in photos and have to go crazy with the Photoshop. :)

Thanks again Jaclyn. You're the best!

 

And then here are a few extras that she didn't edit but I loved so I edited them to post here:

30 Weeks {Baby #2}

How far along? 30 weeks

Weight gain: 39 pounds. Wowza. I weigh now what I did at the end with Sutton...and I still have 10 weeks to go! Yikes.

Baby is the size of a(n): Length of a cucumber according to all the pregnancy websites, but this one is bigger. Read on...

Food cravings/aversions: Still loving milk. And chocolate or sweets of any kind. Hence the weight gain, most likely. :)

Sleeping: Starting to lose some sleep. The turning over is getting more and more frequent cause of hip pain, and my acid reflux doesn't like me laying down. I also have to get up more to pee. And I've been getting really hot at night. And I'm stuffed up. Haha. 

Milestones: I feel like 30 weeks is a milestone in itself! Just 10 weeks left. And probably less because once again, we're having a giant baby. Baby is head down. Also, I start seeing my OB every 2 weeks now.

How I'm Feeling: I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. First, they confirmed my largeness. Nearly 40 pounds gained. Ugh. Secondly, you know all the belly pain I've been complaining about? Well, I have a hernia just above my belly button. Not much they can do about it at this point, and it may or may not resolve itself after the baby comes. It's no fun to have the pain, but at least I know there's a reason.

Interesting things that happened this past week/anticdotes: We had a sonogram yesterday to measure the baby's growth and to get more accurate readings on his heart. Everything looked good with his heart, brain, and kidneys. Praise the Lord! But, as I said, we have another giant baby on our hands. He already weighs over 4 pounds and is in the 70th percentile. His head was measuring at over 33 weeks, so over 3 weeks ahead. Odds are that I will be induced a week early. My mom came along for the sonogram, which was neat. We got to see him with his feet up by his forehead (crazy boy), and we also got a photo of his profile that looks exactly like Sutton: