2010 in Review

Here we are at the end of 2010. I'm sitting on the couch, laptop in lap, watching Real Housewives about to partake in some yummy Pei Wei.

It seems like a very appropriate way to end out the year, as I've eaten a ton of Pei Wei this year, watched entirely too many episodes of Real Housewives, and the couch and laptop are apart of my daily regimen.

I say this every year, but I honestly can't believe how fast this year has flown. They say the years get faster the older you get and I truly believe that.

I just read my review of 2009 (which feels like I just wrote last week) and in that review I talked about how 2009 was the year of no changes.

Was I trying to set myself up for a year of changes in 2010?!?!? Cause that's what I did.

In fact this is a direct quote from my blog this time last year:

"This year we had no big purchases, no big revelations, no big job changes, or location changes, or babies, or pets."

With the exception of the "pets" part all of the above happened.

We purchased a home in March, and this was a big purchase. It got soooo tiring looking for a house but I'm thankful that my husband knew what to look for and does such a good job of keeping us on track in that area. If it was up to me we would have purchased a home that would not have been a good investment. I'm glad Luke handles the money aspect of marriage.

In September we almost had a location change. Luke had been offered a job at a church in Texas and for about 12 hours we accepted the job. However for those 12 hours we never once experienced peace about our decision. Previously before we made the decision, we spent a great deal of time asking for guidance and seeking God's direction in this decision. We never felt a leading one way or the other and it seemed like everything was lining up for us to move.

Well it wasn't, and God made that perfectly clear. Once Luke called back to say that he had to back out from the job that he had just accepted, we felt a peace that can only come from the Big Guy Above. Several other factors happened after that, that reaffirmed our decision. It would not have been the place for us and God was definitely protecting us.

Aside from almost moving Luke had a couple of internal job changes this year. All of which are too hard to explain, but we know the details and they definitely affected our year, and in some ways still continue to affect things.

And then of course we had the GIANT, LIFE CHANGING news of our little baby Tree that will be making his appearance this next year. While this caught us off guard, we are more than excited and fall in love with him a little more each day. Every day we talk about how excited we are for him to be here. We know that it will definitely rock our simple, quiet little world but we cannot wait. I'm ready to meet that hairy little guy, and I can't wait to see my husband as a dad. It really brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. I'm also hormonal and just ate some really spicy food so blame it on those factors.

So here we go headed into 2011.

I'm not even going to make any bold statements about this past year or the year to come because who really knows what will happen.

What I do know is that we serve a faithful God. We are going into the new year with several big questions marks. Question marks that I wish were exclamation marks, but instead they are still lingering questions.

But I won't even try to make assumptions as to what the answers will be, or how it will turn out. I will simply put it in the hands of the One who does know.

So Happy New Year from The Trees! Here's to another year of blogging!!

Books Read in 2010

I have several blog friends that write a recap of the books they read at the end of the year.

When I saw this last year I loved it and made a promise to myself that I would do it.

And now a year later I am keeping my promise to myself.

I'm not good at recapping stories and feel that it gets a bit repetitive, so I just included the amazon link which will include a synopsis of the book and then my 2 cents on that book.

Here are the books I read in 2010:

First I finished the Twilight series:

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

As I've stated before I'm never one to back down from a good pop culture fad. So I couldn't let the popularity of Twilight pass by without me reading the books. And I fell hook, line and sinker. I got sucked into the story lines and enjoyed both the books and movies. No, they are not the best literary work, in fact they are pretty poorly written and I think the movies make it evident, HOWEVER I'm still a fan and enjoyed the books.

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

This book was soooo good and SUCH a tear jerker. In fact while reading it there were times when I had tears streaming down my face. I'm not talking about a couple of sniffles, but absolute tears rolling down my face. I recommend this book to everyone. It's not just a fluff story, but one that will stir your heart and get you thinking about your life and what impact you have in life.

In March Luke and I went on a cruise and I read the next 3 books while on a cruise. They are your typical fiction "fluff" books and were perfect for a light read while laying out in the sun.

Something Borrowed and Something Blue by Emily Giffin

I LOVED these books. Very light, easy, and entertaining reads. I could read these again and be entertained just as much as I was the first time. I loved the story line of both books and was surprised by the "spin" that happened in the 2nd book. I would recommend these books.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Eh. I don't really have much to say about this book. I've heard it said before that Nicholas Sparks uses the same formula for every book and it is so true. I was pretty bored through most of it and thought it was predictable. I wouldn't recommend this book.

I Will Carry You by Angie Smith

I read this book because I read Angie Smith's blog and love it (one of the first blogs I read). To be honest, I don't remember much about the book. It was extremely sad, but her faith is amazing.

So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore

I'm always a Beth Moore fan. I will read anything she writes and have never been disappointed. This book caught me off guard because it really pinpointed some areas in my life where I have insecurity, but I never recognized as insecurity before. Sounds a bit strange but its what I got out of the book. I really do think all girls/women should read this book.

The Secret Life of CeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

This book was the first book for a blogger book club so I decided to go ahead and read it.. I read this book in record time and couldn't put it down. It was a good book, but I couldn't put it down because I HAD to find out what happened in the end. It is a definitely page turner. This is a book I will probably re-read in the future.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

by J.K. Rowling

I started reading the Harry Potter books at some point this year. I had big plans to have them finished by the time the last movie came out, but that just didn't happen. I'm currently in the middle of the 5th book. I WILL get them done before the final installment of the last movie comes out. I absolutely love them, but I have yet to meet a person who has read them and didn't like them. They really just amaze me, I can't believe that J.K. Rowling has all of that information just chilling in her head. I really can't wait to finish the series. I have so many questions I need them answered.

And then of course the following books have taken up a lot of reading time:

These books have been helpful and very informative. I will probably recap them more once I recap all pregnancy related items.

So those are my books for 2010. I was actually quite a bit embarrassed when looking over this list. I didn't focus a lot on my spiritual growth this year and it is definitely evident in my books. However that is something I plan to change in 2011. To be honest there for awhile I only read spiritual growth books and I just got a bit burnt out. But I will discuss that more in my 2011 goals.

Christmas 2010

Once again, it is the end of the year and I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone. We were able to spend a week with our families (we split the week between the two of them) and it was such a wonderful time.

A wonderful and lazy time. As we drove the 2 1/1 hours home last night Luke and I recapped our trip and realized we did absolutely nothing.

Unless you count eating, eating, talking, watching TV, eating, crying over eating so much and sleeping doing something.

But we don't.

And for the record, I told Luke not to cry about how much he was eating that we would get back on track once we got home.

Wednesday night, after Luke got home from youth we hit the road and headed to my house to spend Wednesday through Saturday afternoon with my family.

We played games, ate lots of yummy food that my mom had prepared for the holiday and just hung out. We also attempted to learn Michael Jackson dance moves playing the Michael Jackson Just Dance video game for the Wii. This giant belly in front of my body seriously puts a damper on my madd dancing skillz.

Christmas Eve we went and looked at some lights and then made a pit stop at walmart to pick up some games to play that night.

Christmas morning we woke up and opened all of our presents from mainly my parents and then also each other.

It was SO fun to watch my nephew open all his presents. He is at a really fun age and enjoyed it all so much.

I'm really bummed because I forgot my charger for my camera and it was dead the whole time. I didn't get any pictures the whole time.

My mom took this pic and it is the only pic I have from the day. Me and my sisters.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Luke's house to open presents with his family. Again, I have no pictures.

After we opened presents we hung out for a bit, and then headed back home because Luke had to lead worship the next morning. After church we drove back to Luke's house and spent the next couple of days with his family.

It was a great and relaxing time. Filled with more eating and football watching. On Sunday night Luke had a bunch of his high school friends over and they had a mini reunion. I'm glad he was able to do that. I did a lot of reading during that time. Oh yeah and eating.

We saw the movie True Grit at one point during the week, which was just OK. I'm not a big "western" girl.

Wednesday we headed back home and got in around 9:00.

It was such a wonderful Christmas. Our families blessed our socks off with the gifts, and above all we are just thankful for the time we got to spend so much time at home with our families.

Our Christmas 2010

Every year Luke and I set aside a night, the week of Christmas to exchange gifts and celebrate Christmas just the two of us.

We are with our families for the whole week of Christmas, so we don't have any alone time.

We love this set up and don't want it to change, so we are sure to set aside "our" time for our own little Christmas.

Tonight was that night for us.

First we met up with some friends from church and went and looked at Christmas lights. I love doing this, especially when you are with people who know all the good spots in town. The whole night I kept saying, HOW MUCH IS THEIR ELECTRIC BILL?!?! I mean people go all out!

Then Luke and I went out to eat just the two of us and had so much fun together. I was really craving both alfredo sauce and marinara sauce so I had the restaurant mix them together over some fettucini noodles. It was divine. I had never thought to mix the two but I'm so glad God brought it to my mind This might be my favorite new meal.

And why did I just explain what I ate for dinner? Do you think I'm pregnant? 26 pounds later...ahem.

After that we came back to the house and exchanged our Christmas gifts. I got Luke a couple of gifts but the gift I was most excited about giving him was this Eli Manning Christmas ornament. I figured it would be a funny/silly gift, but he LOVED it. Plus it was a fun gift since our Eli will be here this time next year!

We also go each other a couple of parenting books. Apparently we are worried about how well the other one will parent! Not really but we obviously want to be prepared!

It was such a great night. Lately I have been very emotional and tear up over the smallest things, and recently I have found myself tearing up over my love for my husband. He amazes me in so many ways, I am so thankful for him. And I love our tradition of celebrating our Christmas together just us.

Merry Christmas from the Trees!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit - Romans 15:13

Week 27

We are officially in the 3rd trimester! WOW!

I'm wearing jeggings in the pic above and I debated whether to take another picture for the fact that my belly is large and in charge and I FULLY blame the jeggings, and also cause I'm just that vain. However these weekly photo shoots are dangerously close to getting on Luke's nerves and I think if I would have asked him if to take my picture again after I changed clothes it would have sent him over the edge. I mean he would have done it cause he's the nicest person ever, but not without some grumbling. And I decided it wasn't worth the grumbling.

How Far Along: 27 weeks (actually I'm 28 weeks tomorrow but I like to recap the week before)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: This is a really personal question and I refuse to answer. Just kidding...but really the farther along I get, the more I realize how much I don't want to answer. Right now I'm at 26 pounds. I think this is the first week that I can see the weight in my face.

Maternity Clothes: All maternity pants and most shirts. The shirt pictured above is not maternity which could be why it looks SO TIGHT. We will retire that shirt now.

Gender: BOY!! Eli Tree

Movement: He moves A LOT at night. I didn't feel him much this weekend and it got me really worried. I came home from church on Sunday and drank a large coke trying to get him to wiggle around and move. Today my Dr told me if i put my phone on vibrate and put it on my belly it will get him to move.....interesting. He has been moving a ton today. I like to lift up my shirt and watch my belly move all around. I suggest only doing this in the comfort of your home.

Cravings: Just a cheeseburger on Sunday night. I could feel it in my bones I had to have it so bad.

Symptoms: Sleep has still been pretty bad this week. I have this horrible pain that I get from sleeping on my side, the only way to make it go away is to sleep on my back and while pregnant you aren't supposed to sleep on your back every night. I might try putting a pillow under half my back to make sure that I'm still elevated a bit and to hopefully help the pain. We will see if this helps. Also heartburn is coming back and I wake up with really bad leg cramps.

Best Moment this week: Spending the weekend relaxing with my husband. It feels like we are always on the go so it's nice to have a weekend here and there to do absolutely nothing but be together!

And my favorite husband quote of the week:

Luke: We should have waited till Christmas to tell our parents that we were pregnant that would have been fun.

Me: Ummmmm Don't you think they would have noticed that I gained some weight?!?!?

I don't think he thought that one through.

And a question:

When I was at my Dr.'s office I asked if I was going to have another ultrasound and she said as long as I continued to progress like normal I wouldn't have another one.

I have really been itching to see our baby boy again, and it seems like forever until March (and somedays it seems like March is tomorrow). SO I've been debating whether to go ahead and get a 3d/4d ultrasound. It will be a pic price (in the mid hundreds). So do you think it's worth it?!? Did you have a 3d/4d ultrasound when you were pregnant? Was it worth it? Did you not get it done and regret not doing it?

I would get it done in Mid January. Part of me thinks I need to just wait and see our precious baby when he comes out in March and the other part of me wants to pay the $$ and see him now.

Thoughts?

Weekly Weekend Update

Friday evening was a very calm and laid back night. I had planned on cooking some yummy chicken parmigiana and watching Home Alone, but Luke insisted that Home Alone is best enjoyed with a large pizza. I didn't question his motives, but took it as a good reason to not cook and to enjoy some yummy pizza.

So we watched Home Alone, ate some pepperoni pizza with a side of fried ravioli, followed by fresh funfetti cookies.

It was a good night.

Saturday we started our day by trying this little hole-in-the-wall breakfast cafe by our house. We have seen it a lot but never knew if it was any good.

It is one of those tiny little places that is either going to be downright nasty or completely amazing.

It was COMPLETELY AMAZING. I have a feeling I will be frequenting that breakfast place a few times before Eli makes his appearance.

After breakfast we ran around town and tried to get some last minute Christmas shopping done.

I say tried because we have no idea what to get a few people and we spent a lot of time trying to figure it out.

I also spent a good amount of time in Lowe's looking for my husband because he decided to walk away from me and not answer his cell phone when I called (he was on the other line).

But story is neither here nor there and might cause some not so good emotions to flare up again.

Later that night we tried some sample colors on the wall that will be Eli's nursery. I have a vision in my mind that I'm going for but not sure how to bring it into fruition. I think I've decided which sample below most fits the picture in my mind, but I still need some time to think about it.

Sunday was our Christmas service at church. The one that Luke gets all stressed about and has been working hard towards. I was in kid's church that morning (where I am every other Sunday) but I heard it was a great service. It sounded like it had some fabulous music!

After church we had a community lunch. My friend Jayma came by that to help me serve. We were dessert-servers. And as a pregnant woman I have to say that the desserts looked extra delicious.

I should have gotten an action shot of us serving our desserts but I couldn't find Luke and didn't want to ask somebody else to PLEASE STOP WORKING HARD AND TAKE OUR PICTURE. I only feel comfortable doing that with Luke.

So here we are after the lunch. Kinda posing the same, not on purpose.


Sunday night we had our Christmas staff dinner with the church. It was yummy and I ate my full meal, and then stopped on the way home and got a cheeserburger and tator tots. And I still could have eaten something else. I was SO HUNGRY. I think baby boy is growing.

I can't believe this week is Christmas week! I'm working Mon-Wed so it doesn't quite feel like Christmas is right around the corner, but it is. Craziness!

Time for Random

My life this week:

1. I have written SEVEN posts this week but have yet to publish any of them. None of them rounded out right and sounded worthy of posting.

2. I wrote a post about bitterness.... I struggle with bitterness quite often and trying to figure out how to rid this from my life.

3. Last night Luke felt a BIG kick from Eli. I thought it was so neat but he immediately jerked his hand back and said "ewww that is gross, like a little alien in there". It was a sweet, sweet moment.

4. I discovered a little treasure this week. One of our local news channels shows repeats of old Real Housewives episodes during the day. DVR SCHEDULED. I mean this is like a a thirsty man discovering water while wandering around the desert. I can't get enough of all the crazy housewives, and now I'm catching up on old episodes I've never seen. LOVE IT

5. December is always a crazy time for my husband. He works late a lot of nights and I don't see him as much. I miss him!

6. I am not one t make resolutions for the new year, but I actually have several "goals" in mind for 2011. It might be a bad year to make lofty goals with the birth of a new baby but I am going into it with a positive mindset!! I can do it!

7. I really miss jogging. Me being pregnant has nothing to do with my not jogging. I just hate being outside when it's cold and it's dark by the time I get home. I really think if I had a treadmill I would use it. I just miss jogging so much!

8. I've been wearing an old t-shirt of Luke's to bed every night (because its the only shirt that fits right now ahem) and it wasn't until about the 3rd night of wearing it that I realized it had the nastiest armpit stains I've ever seen in my life. When I laughed about it with Luke he told me they was in fact his brother's armpit stains. Now thats just sick.

9. I'm still wearing that shirt tonight. It's been washed for many years. But still sick.

10. Christmas is next week. That is just craziness.

Week 26

I had stuff to do after work and knew I wouldn't see Luke till later that night when I was tired and sleepy looking so I had a co-worker take this picture at work. The sunlight is hitting my face which makes me look very angelic looking, don't be fooled. Also, we are focusing on the belly here, not the face.

Also in pregnancy news: sometime between Saturday and Tuesday I grew A TON. Actually I think it was Eli who grew, but still I got large(er). I can definitely tell he is bigger in my stomach, as I feel him in more than one place at a time. Plus my belly button has started doing weird things. I have a very deep belly button so I dont think I will get an "outie" but it has started changing shape according to where he is sitting. It's so funny to watch!



How Far Along: 26 weeks (actually I'm 27 weeks today but I like to recap the week before)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I'm up to 21 pounds, but I mean really who is counting at this point? (besides the Dr. who will probably give me the smack down at my next appointment)

Maternity Clothes: All maternity pants. And if I'm going to be honest (which, when have I not been?) those are getting a little snug also. I'm not sure what I will wear in February but I'm looking for work appropriate Pajama pants. Shirts are all pretty much maternity. If I could go back in time I would have bought a size up in maternity pants instead of buying my usual size.

Gender: BOY!! Eli Tree

Movement: I'm not sure how much babies are supposed to move at this point, but he mainly just moves around at night. I feel him some during the day, but at night he is having a party in there!! Love of big movements and I feel movement on both sides of my belly at the same time. He's having fun in there and he is definitely bigger!!

Cravings: Nothing in particular. I honestly feel like my eating habits aren't that different from what they were pre-pregnancy. And every time I say this Luke busts out laughing, so apparently he thinks differently.

Symptoms: Little to no sleep has finally hit me. I have been tossing and turning every night this week and I think it's because he has been growing so much. I am exhausted during the day. I went to bed at 9:00 last night, I think the last time I went to bed at 9:00 was when I was 5 years old. Plus I wake up many times a night to go to the bathroom, most of the times they are false alarms, even though I felt like I was about to wet the bed!

Best Moment this week: Spending time with college friends talking about kiddos and pregnancy, and also feeling him a lot more.

And my favorite husband quote of the week:
Whoa, look at your belly, and you still have 3 months to go!!!


Always a source of encouragement that one.


And for the record, Luke's comments never bother me. He tells me all the time how beautiful he thinks I am while pregnant and mushy stuff like that. I choose to share the hilarious stuff he says when not thinking because it really is funny to me.


And a front shot. I can't get over how much I grew in a few short days! I'm loving watching this "science experiment" with my body. My mom told me to just get ready cause it's about to grow a lot more!

Christmas Decorations 2010

It's time for the annual "show you my Christmas decorations" post.

This is our first Christmas in our home and I was excited to see it all decorated for Christmas. We are quickly approaching our one year anniversary of moving into our home, and I have loved seeing the house through each season. Christmas is by far my favorite season in this home, although I do love summer when the grass and trees are so lush and green. But nothing can beat watching a Christmas move with the hubs, with nothing but the light of the Christmas tree. So sweet.

I don't have a ton of decorations, but I know it's something that will grow throughout the years. I have already been given some great hand-me down Christmas items from my mom and grandma, and those pieces will always be special to me, and I know I will continue to grow my own.

Let's start at the front of the house the front door:
When you walk in, our dining room is to the right:
I got these printables from this blog. I LOVE them and got compliments on them this weekend when we had our friends over.

Walking into the living room you see the tree:
And the tree with the wall piece that my mother-in-law had made to match our tree. She LOVES Christmas decorations so she gets really into it all. I love this piece.
Our fireplace doesn't have a mantle, I have gone back and forth with deciding whether to add a mantle or not. Luke doesn't care either way, so it will be my decision. I was really sad to not have a mantle to decorate for the Chrsitmas season, but I also love the uniqueness of our fireplace and I'm not sure if I want to mess with it. Maybe I will decide before next Christmas.

I got the stocking holder at Kirkland's. A close up of the fireplace:
Another printable that I got at Craftily Ever After and also our Christmas card from last year. I decided to start a tradition of framing our card from the previous year. I like it.
Our nativity scene. I LOVE this. Some friends gave it to us the first Christmas we were married and I cry every year when I take it out of the box. True story.
I love the Willow figurines, and especially love them at Christmas. Each year my grandma gives us a Willow ornament for our tree, with the year on it. I will always treasure these.

A Christmas Scentsy warmer in our living room. It is burning Christmas Cottage. Yum.

A few small details in the kitchen:

These vases (is that what they are called?) travel throughout our house when I am wanting to change up things. I move them around and they feel the void of buying something new. This year I put these colored mini ornaments in them, I love the way they turned out:
Santa on the kitchen table:

He is pretty and glittery:
A santa cookie jar:
My nativity Scentsy warmer, this is my favorite Christmas warmer, and also a snowman platter, I want to get a Santa platter next year to match the other santas in the kitchen:So that is our home all decorated. I've never been a person that has that decorating "eye" but I'm hoping that I will learn as I continue through life. One can hope right?

Thanks for touring our home!

Weekly Weekend Update - College Christmas Party

Every year during either the first or second weekend in December our group of college friends gets together for a little Christmas get together. I blogged about it in 2008 and last year.

All but one of us live in Oklahoma, but we are all spread out living in different cities and Tambra lives in Houston. She moved there after getting married last August. But she was able to find a cheap plane ticket and fly back for our college get together this year!

We met each other in the dorms freshman year and lived together for most of the rest of college. As any group of girls does, we have had our ups and downs, but remained friends throughout the years.

I was a bit stressed leading up to the event, as it was at my house and when any event is at your house you want to be fully prepared and want everything to be "perfect". But at the end of the day on Saturday it was clear that my worries were unnecessary. It was a great day, with some great friends.

I am thankful for the people in these pictures. They have provided many fun times and laughs throughout the last eight years of my life, and I love that we still get together each year.

The annual girl's picture in front of the tree:

The whole group:
I was the person who was setting up the camera timer, so I had to run back to the group in about 1 second flat and pose. Preggo belly and all running across the living room. So the boys thought it would be funny to block Jodi and I out of the picture. I still chose to pose anyways because I didn't run all that way for nothing!
Jodi and I have been close since freshman year of college, we were in each others weddings, and even though we don't live in the same town anymore we still see each other often. And now we are pregnant at the same time. The same exact time, 0ur due dates are only 5 days apart! We wonder if our sweet babies will be born on the same day and we are so excited to add 2 babies to the mix next year!

Here we both are at 26 weeks:After hanging out all day, we all sat around the dining room table and enjoyed our meal. We had snacked on chips, dips and desserts all day so we didn't eat much dinner, but it was fun to pile around the table and enjoy the meal together. After dinner we burned some calories playing Just Dance on the Wii. The 2 preggo's had a face off, which was fun and probably scary at the same time.

My sweet husband and I at the end of the day. We are thankful for a home where we can host our friends and enjoy a fun day with them. When I met these people I never would have imagined what the years in front of us held, and that we would still be getting together eight years later. Such fun times!

Week 25

How Far Along: 25 weeks (actually I'm 26 weeks tomorrow but I like to recap the week before)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Not sure, but I bet it's a lot. I'm going to try and sneak over to the wellness center on campus and weigh myself.

Maternity Clothes: All maternity pants. Shirts are a combination of regular and maternity. But getting to be mainly maternity. Actually pretty much all shirts are maternity minus the shirts that I wear underneath my other shirts.

Gender: BOY!! Eli Tree

Movement: I've been feeling him more and more lately. It doesn't feel like swift "kicks" it mainly just feels like he's rolling around all in there.

Sleep: Horrible! I was sleeping on my back, but decided that my stomach was getting big enough that I should probably go ahead and start sleeping on my side. Um... how do people sleep on their side?? I toss and turn all night long. My dr told me not to panic if I wake up on my back, which is good because I find myself waking up on my back, so I roll over on my side and try to fall asleep again.

What I miss: Not really anything this week. Other than sleep! HA!

Cravings: Italian food. I could eat it for every meal.

Symptoms: I started taking some medicine for my heartburn and it has been SO much better this week. Lately I feel like I have to go to the bathroom so badly, and I will run to the bathroom, sit down, and barely anything comes out. I guess Eli was just "resting" on my bladder. Also I had that bad nose bleed this week and I've been getting bad leg cramps.

Best Moment this week: Registering was a lot of fun!

And my favorite husband quote of the week:

When registering for a bouncer I picked one that looked cute and classy and Luke said:

"Are you kidding? You might as well put our kid in a business suit and tie with a briefcase if you want that bouncer, he will be the most boring kid on the block."

I thought it was really cute (the bouncer not the comment).

And just for fun a front view of the big ole girl:

I swear my stomach is lopsided. I've always tried to convince people that my ears are uneven and it throws off my balance (I can't stand on one foot to save my life) and I think now my growing stomach is PROOF that I am a lopsided person.

Registering and a Bloody Nose

Saturday Luke and I had only one goal: to register for baby items. I think we both went into this task with some underlying fears. You see upon getting engaged, registering for wedding gifts was one of my most anticipated events.

And then we attempted to do it.

And it was a disaster.

We fought the entire time.

I don't even remember what we fought about because I mean what is there to fight about when you are registering for spatula's and coffee mugs?

Apparently a lot.

I may have even broken down and started crying in the middle of Bed Bath and Beyond because how can I marry a man who wants to register for DEEP BOWLS when clearly SHALLOW BOWLS are the only way to go?!?!

It was a sensitive time in my life.

I ended up just registering for everything through the beauty of the Internet because I knew we couldn't handle going into the store together again.

Fast forward 2 years later and it's time to register for baby items.


Despite our past, we managed to successfully complete a day of registering and even managed to have fun while doing it!


I was the scanner and scanned our items while Luke meticulously marked items off on our registry checklist the store provided. He took his job seriously and was so frustrated if he couldn't find the item on the checklist.

Things did get a bit confusing at times and we made several phone calls to my mom and I pulled up my blog of this post several times to reread comments and posts.

I am really excited about the items we registered for. We are that much closer to seeing our sweet little guy!!


Here we are in all of our registering glory. I am always shocked at how pleasant Luke looks in pics because he definitely thought taking our picture was the dumbest idea ever.

Registering is very exhausting. This big mama was tired and needed to rest her feet.

As we were leaving the store, Luke told Eli that he was lucky he didn't have to hear us fighting, that we were kind of crazy last time, but this time around registering was much smoother.

Afterwards we ate lunch at Chili's. I love their queso.

On the way home we decided to make a stop at Best Buy which is in the busiest intersection of our town. I mean cars everywhere, people honking, cars stuck in traffic for hours, craziness.

It was at the point when we were right in the middle of this mess that my nose deiced to start GUSHING blood.

I'm not talking about a cute little nose bleed, "oops there's a drop of blood" nose bleed. I'm talking a nose bleed like somebody chopped my nose off.

And in that moment all I could worry about was how embarrassing it was.

I wasn't worried about getting blood on my maternity jeans that I have worn 293 days in a row, or my new shirt, or even the seats in our car. All I was worried about was everybody in the other cars looking at me with my nose plugged, head bent back and blood still POURING out of my nose.

I'm not really sure why that would embarrass me so badly? I mean I'm the girl who pretty much shares every detail in my life, causing my mom to beg me to STOP SHARING SO MUCH INFORMATION WITH THE WORLD.

But for some reason that nose bleed on that busy street on a Saturday afternoon just about did me in.

We are going to pull the pregnancy card on that one.

Luke kept saying "why is your nose bleeding?!?" And I kept saying "I don't know but its so embarrassing are people staring?!?!"

I'm not really sure WHY he was so concerned with WHY my nose was bleeding.

And I'm not really sure WHY I thought people in other cars would be looking at me, or even care that my nose was bleeding

I finally got the bloody nose under control, just as Luke pulled into a Starbucks and ran inside to get paper towels, I couldn't go inside, I was an unsanitary mess.

I asked him to get a bunch of wet paper towels and he came back with about 150 dry paper towels and one paper towel that was barely wet on the corner.

Our communication at its finest.

But I managed to get myself cleaned up, while Luke kept asking WHY my nose was bleeding.

I think the fact that I am big and pregnant and bleeding out of my nose was alarming to him.

I would like to see that same alarm at 2:00am when I wake up screaming because I have the worst leg cramp ever.

Theoretically speaking of course.

And I just spent entirely too long telling a story about my bloody nose.

It's the little memories in life that matter.

Thursday Thoughts

1. I didn't mean to be so mysterious with my shirt on my last post. For those that asked it says "Tis the Season to be Pregnant". My youngest sister picked it up at the mall and wanted to give it to me. So cute.

2. Men are the most difficult people to shop for. What the heck do you get your dads and brothers for Christmas?!?!? Annoying.

3. I cannot believe that it is December. Um....where did this year go? I really think this was the fastest year ever. E.V.E.R.

4. I LOVE this time of the year and getting Christmas cards in the mail. Unfortunately due to our financial situation this year I didn't feel right spending money on Christmas cards, it just didn't seem necessary. However a family friend who takes picture and designs cards offered to do our cards in exchange for some Scentsy products (that I sell). This was AMAZING and helped so much. Thankful for the little things like that.

5. I wish I could see all the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills prior to plastic surgery. I think it would be interesting.

6. Speaking of, I love Andy Cohen. He is hilarious.

7. I have been craving Italian food like nobody's business. I could eat Olive Garden everyday. Except I don't. Sad.

8. I think I have started doing too many numbered random posts. But its a good way to get my thoughts out.

9. I was looking back through my blog and I love that I did Project 365 for the first part of the year. I wish I would have stuck with it all year long. I'm going to attempt to do this again in 2011.

10. Tonight I ate the most delicious spinach artichoke dip ever. I also felt like I could actually feel my butt getting bigger as I ate it. It might have been my mind playing tricks on me, or I might just be really in touch with my body, but I swear I felt it getting bigger.