Christmas Parties!

I've been to 3 Christmas parties this year and they have all been SO much fun!
1) Our friends Joe and Katy had our church class Christmas party at their house.  Everyone brought appetizers and desserts and we played dirty Santa. Some people brought old stuff from their houses and others brought good stuff like Starbucks giftcards. We took an old microwave that Marcus used in college (which we later found our smelled) and a dress I wore to our ugly sweater party last year. Marcus ended up with a lovely beer themed tin of popcorn and I got a cute little calendar for my purse.  I have a wonderful picture of Owen from that night that I want to put on here, but every time I try it turns sideways... I've turned it in every direction and it won't work. : ( 

2) My girls' Bible study group had a Christmas cookie exchange.  We all wore pajamas and brought cookies.  Prizes were given for the best cookies and we all exchanged recipes.  It was so relaxing to just eat cookies and visit.

3) My office party was Tuesday night.  There were lots of yummy desserts and appetizers.  We played Bunco and dirty Santa.  Bunco was a great way to meet some of the new girls who have started working since I've been on maternity leave. It was good to see all my work friends. For dirty Santa, we ALL got Coach purses!!! Yay!!!!  I got a cute, simple brown one that is very me.  It will go with everything and no one tried to steal it.  We have the BEST office Christmas parties!

Here's my little pumpkin this morning-all bundled up.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We just put up our Christmas tree last week and I didn't decorate nearly as much as usual, but I am really excited about Christmas. I have a few more gifts to wrap and we'll be all set. It has been so much fun dressing Owen in cute Christmas outfits and Marcus and I have been singing Christmas songs to him.  We will be taking him to Arkansas for the first time in a few days.  I think he'll be a good traveler!

Holding Santa while Mommy and Daddy decorate

This isn't Christmasy, but he's wearing a cute sweater from my friend Colleen. Love it!

Getting ready for church-wearing a sweet outfit from Great Uncle Kevin and Aunt Sandi

Owen is almost 2 months old!

 I haven't posted at all since Owen was born, but I fully intend to start blogging again. Now I actually have stuff to talk about. : )
I'll start with his birthday-well a brief synopsis.  He was born on October 18. I was in labor for 22.5 hours, but thankfully I had an awesome epidural. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected.  The cord was around his neck, so he had to be taken to get suctioned and put on oxygen for just a few minutes and then he was fine.  That was pretty scary for those few minutes though. After all that, he ended up being perfectly healthy. What a blessing! The whole time we were at the hospital I couldn't stop talking about how adorable his little face is.  Everyone says he looks just like Marcus. He does have my hands though. My mom stayed with us for a few days after getting home from the hospital.  It was so wonderful to have her here to help around the house and get a little extra rest. 

I think this was taken before I even held him.

One of my favorite pictures. : )

He is such a happy baby.  He started smiling at 5 weeks old and seems to get more social everyday.  He loves my singing (he's the only one)  and reading books. Our favorite book is called "Snuggle Puppy".  It is so sweet.  He's a good sleeper (this is a more recent thing...) and has only been getting up once during the night. He's also a good eater.  At his 1 month checkup, his weight and height were in the 25th percentile, but he seems huge now.  We'll find out more about that next week. I really am going to try to blog more!!!

My friend Amy took gorgeous newborn pictures of him.  He was 9 days old in this one.

Watching football with Dad

Happy Halloween!

Happy Thanksgiving!

a great weekend!

We started the weekend with our neighborhood garage sale.  Too bad we were the only ones on our street who participated. Other parts of the neighborhood looked really busy. We did get rid of a few things though, and a little extra money is always appreciated. My parents and brother came to visit and arrived saturday afternoon. It is always so wonderful to see them.  We went to a German restaurant for dinner and I had some good schnitzel and this fantastic bread that is like those big soft pretzels. Yum! Sunday was my baby shower at church. It was really nice and Owen got lots of new clothes, a diaper bag, a play mat, some art to hang above his crib, and some adorable personalized goodies. 

When I went to the doctor last week, she said that Owen has already dropped. According to my pregnancy books, when that happens the baby usually arrives in 2-4 weeks. If that's right, we may be seeing our little guy a week or two early.  I'll be going to the doctor every week now. I'm still feeling good overall. I get a little uncomfortable at night and have some heartburn when I get hungry. I still feel pretty much normal at work and then crash when I get home. Marcus has been so helpful around the house.  This weekend he's going to the Arkansas/Alabama game and I'm planning to work on organizing the nursery and cooking some freezeable meals. There's still alot to do before Owen arrives!

lots of excitement

I realized that I am WAY behind in updating and have lots to catch up on.

Today is Marcus's 30th Birthday!!!  He is such an amazing husband and I just can't brag on him enough.  I am sooo lucky to have him.  Last year at this time we were on the beach in Mexico. Now we are getting ready for our sweet baby. It's amazing how much things can change in a year, but we are so happy with where we are now.  I got him a new camera for his birthday and we are going out for a nice dinner on Friday night.

  I am 31 weeks pregnant now and still feeling pretty good. Some days I still feel pretty normal and other days I do feel tired and like I am slowing down.  It's defintely getting harder to chase kids at work and sometimes I have to ask for help in picking up kids or other heavy things.  According to "What to Expect", Owen now weighs 3 1/2 pounds, which is pretty cool. We've been going to childbirth class each week this month and I have really enjoyed it. Thursday is our last class.  I went to Just Between Friends, a huge baby and kids consignment sale, and got some great clothes for Owen and me and a few other things too. Owen already has ALOT of clothes.  I'm having more fun shopping for a boy than I though I would.  We had a hard time finding bedding that we liked that wasn't too "themey" or ridiculously expensive.  Yesterday, my wonderful friend Colleen found some great bedding on Craigslist (in North Carolina) and is sending it to me.  I am SOOO excited. It is just perfect. It's  from Pottery Barn and is blue and green with some elephants ( but not too many!)  I feel like he is going to be here so soon!

On a not so fun note, 3 weeks ago we were in a car accident.  We were headed to church and were rear ended while we were sitting at a stoplight by a lady who didn't slow down at all until after she hit us.  Marcus's car was totaled, but we are fine. I called my doctor the next day so that I could go into her office just to get checked out and was advised to go to hosptial- to the Labor and Delivery floor. I was really upset about having to go to the hospital. It made me feel like something really could be wrong, even though he was still moving normally and I really felt ok.  They monitored Owen's heartrate for awhile, did bloodwork, and an ultrasound and thankfully he was just fine.   

This past weekend, we had a small flood in our house.  I don't totally understand how it works but some drain on our air conditioner was clogged and stinky water was coming up through the floor into our hallway.  It's dry now, but we still have huge, loud fans blowing to dry out the pad under the carpet. Yuck.  Hopefully, this week and weekend will be drama-free!

27 weeks- I look so tired here...it was after a busy day at work.

29 weeks

30 weeks

Marcus's car.  : (

The nasty water he vacuumed out of the carpet.  It filled the tub halfway up. Yuck!!!

Mr. Fix-it-just a few days before the big 3-0

25 Weeks!

Time is flying by. Baby Owen is moving more and more every day and he is the size of an eggplant this week.  Marcus has felt him move several times now. My mom was able to feel him too when my family visited for the 4th of July. He is the most active at night. One night last week, I was lying in bed with the remote control on my stomach and it was really moving.  I am wearing all maternity pants now and can wear some regular shirts, but not many.  Luckily, my one of my friends gave me a huge bag of maternity shirts the other day.   Here are my 2 most recent pictures.

23 weeks

25 weeks

Kansas City

Marcus and I took a few days off work last week and went to Kansas City. It will probably be our last vacation for a long time!  Neither of us had ever been there, but we were looking for somewhere that was an easy drive from here and the St. Louis Cardinals (Marcus's favorite team) happened to be playing there last week so it was a pretty easy decision.  We stayed for four nights and went to the baseball game, the zoo, the best outlet mall I've ever been to, and to a really cool museum.  We also ate at lots of good restaurants.  My favorite was a steak place called J. Gilberts. It was a splurge, but sooo delicious.

                                     

The first two pictures were taken at the Arabia Steamboat museum by a huge steamboat wheel. (I guess it's called the wheel-not sure!) Basically, these guys dug up a huge steamboat that sank in the 1850's and was buried under a field after the river changed course.  It was carrying merchandise for stores out west and people's personal belongings.  It was really interesting. There were lots of old clothes, dishes, tools, and even jars of food. It might sound nerdy, but we both really enjoyed it.

Kansas City had a great zoo. We walked around for probably 4-5 hours and didn't even see everything.  Marcus fed the goats and they were hoping for more.

Ready for the Cardinals game

The Royals have a fantastic stadium. I loved all the fountains in the outfield.