Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! So far we have celebrated Christmas with my Grandma and her husband Tim last weekend and we celebrated on Christmas day with the Benjamin family. We played games, decorated cookies, ate lots of goodies and just enjoyed spending time together with the family. Josh and I exchanged our gifts on Christmas Eve morning... and even though my mom accidentally told Josh what I got him the day I bought it from him, he was still surprised. And much to my surprise, Josh had gotten me a gift as well. I had told him not to worry about getting me a gift because I had just bought a new Chi flat iron because my first one had sadly died after 3 years! He bought me a beautiful necklace and I bought him a new coat.

Molly and Izzy enjoyed their Christmas as well... Who knew a dog could actually open her stocking and find her presents!

We came back home on Saturday to find that we had been snowed out of our drive way so we went right to Home Depot to purchase a snow shovel. We came back to the house and realized there was nowhere to park the car in the meantime so I went to check out some post holiday sales while poor Josh shoveled the driveway. After he finished shoveling the snow we both took an afternoon nap on our respective couches, ate tacos for dinner and watched a couple movies. Today we had breakfast and went to look at a new bed set at Kohl's that we decided against and came home to put the house back in order and get ready for the busy week ahead. We are planning to go to Maryville for a New Year's Eve wedding and then to Grant City to celebrate Christmas with the Downing's.

Well I know it is a little post dated but I wanted to share some photos of the baby shower my mom and Nana threw for me at the beginning of December. We had it here in Belton and I so much appreciated everyone who traveled long distances to spend this special day with me. We had a great time and received so many wonderful gifts! Thank you to everyone!

Thanksgiving/Update on Baby D

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We decided to host Thanksgiving this year and my family came over to feast. Traveling is getting a bit difficult and uncomfortable for me so this was nice to have it here and relax a little over the weekend. My mom and sister came over Wednesday night and we baked ALL of the desserts.... which we still have whole pies left! Then Thursday morning we woke up and Josh started the smoker for his first smoked Turkey which was a big hit. After dinner we played a card game which may have went quicker had we had 3 full decks of cards and not 3 decks of random cards! So funny... especially because we didn't realize it until the game was over. And finally Friday morning my mom, sister and I hit the stores to do some shopping. We found some great deals but had to cut the trip short a little after lunch because... well... I was tired and that is a lot of walking.

An update on Baby Downing.. About 3 weeks ago my doctor released me from bed rest and I have been back to work! Now that is all I am supposed to do so don't tell her about all my Thanksgiving activities! Everything is going well and she even pushed out my appointments to every two weeks until it is time to go every week again. My Glucose screening went well and the only thing that changed was my Iron. I'm running a little low but nothing some Iron supplements can't fix.

Horoscopes!!!

So I was looking at a baby website and their was a "Family Horoscope" link. So I clicked on it to see what it was about. Basically it took the two parents horoscopes and predicted what their parenting skills were going to be. So I thought this would be fun to do so our result was..."Some Adjustment Required"...and this is what it said about us, for the record I found this to be spot on!!! Now keep in mind Josh is Aries and Nicolle is Capricorn...

"As a parenting team, you two may have a hard row to hoe. Your personal styles conflict and neither of you is particularly willing to compromise your principles. The Aries parent is often youthful, even childlike, and likes an active, open relationship with the kids, initiating fun and exciting activities. Your short fuse may cause problems as you erupt at your kids, but at least once you've spoken your mind, you calm down immediately.

The Capricorn parent is more reserved and thoughtful, preferring to plan out the future and instilling values of hard work and responsibility. You'll strive to provide for your family. Discipline can be a problem here, with the Capricorn mom or dad having the unenviable role of "bad guy." It will take maturity and patience to come to an agreement about how you want to raise your children, but it is possible and desirable. "

More Family Time!

This weekend Josh's dad came down to visit and my parents came over as well. We had a nice relaxing visit and ate chicken wings with Dennis's new recipe! My mom decided it was time for me to buy actual maternity shirts so we went to Target and picked out a couple shirts. I haven't bought any because I have been sitting/laying at home and didn't see the need but she assured me I did need them and I would soon out-grow my current wardrobe. My measurements have been getting better slowly but surely and we have our next appointment tomorrow. Last week the Doc said in a couple weeks I may get more activity back into my life and I'm looking forward to that! We are also taking a car seat safety class at Babies R Us tomorrow evening. I like to take full advantage of my Tuesday outing every week. I'm still working on my blankets and need to continue looking into daycares and pediatricians... how exciting I know! Hope everyone had a great weekend... More updates to come!

Family Time

We had the pleasure of visiting with some of Josh's family on Saturday. His Mom, Grandma Caroline, Aunt Gina and Taylor and his sisters Vanessa and Hilary all came down and brought a delicious lunch from KFC! My mother in-law also brought me a new project to work on while I lay here in the house. I'm not sure the correct term but I call it a cross stitch baby blanket! It will definitely take quite some time to finish and should keep me occupied for a while. It was nice to visit with everyone and we enjoyed the company and watching Taylor torment Molly with her own toys! Unfortunately, nobody thought to get out the camera but I will post a picture of the blanket when it's finished! Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

Over the past month or so...

Well, we have had some events happening besides the bed rest over the past month or so. Nana (my grandmother) got married and Josh made pumpkin cheesecake from scratch! My cousin Kendra and Steve welcomed their new baby boy Cameron to the family. He weighed almost 10 pounds! We also went to the renaissance festival with the Searles, which was my first time and possibly the last... It was definitely an experience!

Here are a few pics from the wedding...

Nana and Tim

The Benjamin Family

And Josh's Pumpkin cheesecake adventure... He actually made his own pumpkin filling because apparently a shortage on pumpkin filling! The cheesecake turned out great and we ended up with five of them!

Its Official...

Well we had to move our doctors appointment up from tomorrow to this past Tuesday. Nicolle was experiencing some weird pains and cramping, and because she is on high risk for preterm labor the doctor wanted to see her immediately. So we went in for the sonogram had everything checked out, and when the doctor came in to the room she pretty much instantly said, "Well you are now on bed rest". So here we are 23 weeks pregnant and Nicolle is on bed rest for HOPEFULLY the next 14-17 weeks. She can only get up to go to the bathroom, take a shower, and sit up to eat the rest of the time she has to be laying down. If anyone has any ideas of things to do while being on your back please let us know!!!!

Other then bed rest everything with Baby D is going great. It is right on track and Nicolle gained weight, so there are a few positive things to look at!!!

PREGNANT WOMEN

I'm sure most of you men who has had a pregnant wife or has a pregnant wife will find humor in this comic, but when I seen it I had to laugh and post it because it is a spitting image of Nicolle, minus the klutz but definatly the baby brain!!! I'm finding that pregnant women just completely lose their mind and go crazy!!! I'm not saying this to be mean, but its true and all you pregnant women know I'm right!!!!

Baby Video

I know I'm about a week late,but here is a video of our sonogram from last Friday. Wait a few seconds at the beginning for the video to start, apparently she started recording before she put the wand on the tummy. At the beginning you will see the spine, arms, and legs, and for most of the video will be on the babies side. You will also see the brain, the heart beating, and the eye. The eye is a little weird looking, and it will pause for a second when it turns and looks because the doctor took a picture of it. The baby is right on track, as of last Friday it was 9 oz., but some internet sites we read says that right now it will be about 10-10 1/2 oz. The doctor can't give us a measurement of how long it is but per the website it is roughly 6 1/2 inches long, they say its about the length of a banana!!!

FINALLY!!!

So a project that was supposed to be a spring project, that turned into a spring, summer, and fall project, has now been completed!!! The bricks for this patio came from the old Ford building that sat north across the street from the lumber yard in Grant City. They were covered in mortar and after a lot of blood and sweat I got them all cleaned. Thanks to Robbie, Bobby and my Dad we got the patio dug out and started on Memorial day. Thanks to Robbie last weekend we were able to get it completely finished!!! There are close to 1700 bricks in this patio that were all cleaned by hand!! So you could understand why the title is FINALLY!!! Today was a long day of sweeping sand in the cracks and doing some grading with the left over work. All we have left is to mulch the flower bed surrounding the patio and plant grass seed in the back yard, and then we will hopefully be able to sit on the patio drink margarita's and enjoy the look of a nice plush yard (or at least I will be enjoying margarita's this fall, then Nicolle can join in next spring!!!)

Ok so baby news, Nicolle is just starting to get a little pooch going. She has felt slight baby movements a couple times, but nothing that I can feel yet. We have another doctors appointment this coming Friday and will post the pictures.

Baby Room

Here are a couple pictures of our baby room currently. So far we have the furniture but nothing on the walls, I'm sure that will change before too long. Also for those of you who have been in our house if you look at the picture of the door, you will notice NO MORE GREEN CARPET!!!! Also as you can see we have started collecting a few baby items here and there, and it seems like we can't leave the house without bringing home something baby related!!! Josh got the joy of picking out the baby's first toy...the glow worm!

Baby Downing!

WE'RE BACK! With a real reason to blog... baby downing is on the way. We're hoping this will be the easiest way to keep everyone updated on the progress. We went to our 15 week appointment last Friday and had our second sonogram. We had a sonogram very early on and it only looked like a peanut so we were thrilled to see the baby this time. Baby Downing is very active wieghing in at 4oz and 3.5-4 inches long. We were able to see the baby kicking and moving its arms and we even witnessed he/she swallowing! I am still taking medication for my nausea and will continue to do so as long as I need it. I attempted a few days without it last week and the outcome was not good! The medication does no harm to our baby so it is perfectly safe. I have also started eating more which I'm sure the baby is thankful for. Our next appointment is at the beginning of September with more pictures to come.