Christmas 2011

This last week has been a bit crazy. Our Christmas celebrations began the Monday before Christmas with my annual dinner with my girlfriends. It was a great night, and since most of us have little ones, or little ones on the way, it was filled with adorable little outfits, headbands, and bows. I've said this before, but I cannot believe I was possibly ever disappointed that this babe was a girl. The baby girl things are so cute I can't stand it! Tue night John had his friends over, and let's just say that that night prepared me for what taking care of a newborn will be like. I was up and down all night trying to quiet them down. Wed was a bit of an unexpected adventure. John and I were both pretty exhausted from the night before, and I couldn't wait to get home from work and go to bed. Well, instead of napping on the couch, we got to head to St Jude Labor and Delivery for a practice round. I had some bleeding and was admitted to L&D where we spent the next 5 hours. Everything with baby was perfectly fine, but I was given the orders to be on light bed rest due to the bleeding and some contractions that I was having while in L&D. This meant that we had to cancel our plans to go to the Mission Inn for dinner/Christmas lights the next evening, which was really disappointing-especially since I made those damn dinner reservations in September. Next year, I suppose...we also had to cancel our Yosemite trip planned for this week. We don't want to chance anything by being too far away from the hospital.

On Christmas Eve, John and I relaxed around the house and watched x-mas movies. We exchange our gifts on xmas eve since xmas day is pretty jammed packed. I have to say I was quite spoiled. My main gift was having stones added to my wedding band. It's driven me crazy that when my wedding band turns, the plain band shows and not the stones (petty, I know!), so John took it back to our jeweler and had the diamonds completed around the band. I love it and am one lucky lady. In addition to that, I got a few outfits (that I can't wait to fit into, post baby) and some funny stocking stuffers. X-mas morning was spent at the inlaws. We had breakfast and did a gift exchange, then headed to my parents for presents and dinner prep. I wasn't much help since I was couch-bound, but it was a nice relaxing day. That evening, John's fam joined us for Christmas dinner, and as usual, we stuffed ourselves to the brim with delicious turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes, and more. Baby fared quite well this Christmas. She got more gifts than anyone and she's not even here yet.

Here's a look at some of the loot from x-mas day:

New Front Loaders! Aren't they glorious?! Our washer/dryer was about 15 years old and on its way out. We would have to dry our clothes for 2-3 dry cycles just to get them damp. Needless to say, with all the laundry in our future, it was time to upgrade. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

New goose down comforter!

Uggs for the whole fam! It's not Christmas day without a new pair of Uggs, and this time, we all got a piece of the action.

Mama's Uggs:

Dad's Uggs:

Baby's Uggs:

Funny story about babe's uggs. We actually got two of the exact same pairs, one from each grandma. But, one grandma did her holiday shopping much earlier than the other. 5 years earlier to be exact. Every Easter, the Hall's have an egg hunt. My MIL and FIL hide plastic eggs all over the house. Some eggs are filled with candy, some with $1 bills, some with $5, some with $10, $20, and the "Big Kahuna" egg has a whopping 100 smacks for the lucky person who finds it. The hunt gets very competitive, and the hiding places are pretty extreme. One year J found it taped to the underside of the toilet tank lid. Anyway, while searching for the Big Kahuna on Easter Sunday about 5 years ago, John and I stumbled upon a little box. Inside the little box was an infant pair of pink Ugg boots. When John asked his mom why she had a pair of baby Uggs in the closet, she answered that Nordstrom delivered them to her mistakenly and she needed to return them. John joked with me later on that she probably bought them for her future grandkid, but I thought that was crazy since none of us were going to be getting married any time soon, let alone having babies. Well, sure enough, on Christmas morning we opened a familiar package. My MIL admitted that she bought those for her first girl grandchild, and had to wait 5 years to be able to gift them. Talk about getting xmas shopping done early! So, now this little girl has not only 1, but two pairs of uggs waiting for her little feet to grow into.

And speaking of Baby Girl, here are some recent pics taken @ 31 weeks exactly. Only 9 weeks to go (plus or minus a few)! I had a doc appt yesterday, and they scheduled the rest of my visits up through my due date. I only have 6 more appts until D-Day. Craziness!!